


A Perfect Match

by xSophie2x



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bookstore visit, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, Happy times, Heartbreak, Jock Theo Raeken, Little bit of angst, M/M, Nerd Liam Dunbar, Sad, Shy Liam, Soulmates, Stargazing, Support, apologizing, popular theo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-02-10 10:05:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18658243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSophie2x/pseuds/xSophie2x
Summary: In this world, the first words your soulmate will say to you are written on your wrist. Theo, who's always been eager to find his soulmate, didn't expect this surprising turn of events. Liam, who hasn't been actively looking for his soulmate, is in for an equally big surprise and reluctant to see how it will work out. But maybe surprising, isn't such a bad thing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be one chapter at first but then it got pretty long. So I split it up in different parts that hopefully still make sense! That's also why this first chapter is a bit shorter. It took a while to write, but I hope you'll like it!  
> Thanks for your help with this, Janna!

For Theo Raeken, mornings were the best part of the day. He loved how bright and fresh everything seemed in the morning, making him feel more ready for the day, and as he walked down the stairs, he already felt more than awake.

‘Morning mom, Tara,’ he greeted as he walked into the kitchen, light shining through the large windows. ‘Dad.’ 

‘Morning,’ his mom greeted back, his dad only looking up briefly from his newspaper to address him before turning back to his breakfast. Theo didn’t dwell on it, walking over the kitchen cupboards and making some cereal and orange juice for himself, before sitting down at the kitchen island across from Tara. 

Rapidly, he started eating his breakfast, causing Tara to raise her eyebrows at him. Theo just smirked at her in return, and when he’d finished his breakfast he stood up again, placing his empty bowl and glass on the kitchen counter. 

When he did, though, he couldn’t avoid glancing at his wrist for a moment. 

In the world where Theo was born, fate was real. From the moment they were born, people had been assigned a soulmate, with the first words their soulmate would say to them written on their right wrist. It seemed his soulmate decided to tell him: ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.’ 

Sometimes Theo was a little worried about the fact that he hadn’t found his soulmate yet. Most of his friends already had. 

His mom seemed to know what he was thinking though, and smiled. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said reassuringly. ‘You’ll find her.’ 

‘Or him,’ Theo mumbled, frowning. He had always felt more drawn to boys than to girls, even if his parents didn’t know it. 

‘What?’ His mom looked up at him with a smile on her face, but Theo just shook his head. It was probably for the best that no one had heard him. 

Then, the sound of a car outside startled him. It was going faster than most people would, the wheels screeching against the concrete street as it came to a stop. Theo rolled his eyes, though still unable to keep the grin off his face. His mom pushed him slightly on the back. 

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘It’s time for you to get to school. Though I wish they’d stop doing that.’ 

‘Me too,’ his dad spoke up from behind them then. ‘They’re causing trouble for the people in this neighbourhood.’ 

‘I think you can tell them to stop, dad,’ Tara chuckled, taking another bite from her cereal. ‘Though I’m not sure that would work. Theo’s friends are jerks.’ 

Theo couldn’t help but feel a little bothered at that. He knew that it was probably true that his friends were a little annoying at times, but they were still his friends, and he was one of them. Besides, it wasn’t like Tara’s friends were always nice. Theo just thought they were nosy. 

He didn’t think about it long though, smiling as he grabbed his bag and walked to the front door. There, he said goodbye to his mom, waiting for her to leave again before pulling the door open and stepping outside. Brett’s car was standing on the side of the road, Brett and Josh sitting in it with the doors already open. 

‘Raeken!’ Brett yelled. ‘Hurry up, we don’t have all day!’ 

A grin appeared on Theo’s face and he made his way over to the car, running a little, before climbing in on the backseat. Josh smiled, greeting him, but Brett just smirked, slamming the door shut and looking at him through the rearview mirror. ‘Finally.’ 

‘Shut up and drive,’ Theo snapped, causing Brett to chuckle. He did what Theo said though, waiting for him and Josh to close their doors before stepping on the gas, and speeding out of the street. 

****** 

Liam Dunbar hated mornings. They were all chaotic to him, an annoying time of day where everything had to be done hurriedly in order to make it in time for school. 

It was still early when he shuffled around the cramped kitchen, trying to move around his mom and stepdad without being in each other’s way, as he made his breakfast. 

He took his food to the living room then, where early sunlight was already shining through the windows above the table, and sat down on his chair. He put his cup of tea and the last croissant that his stepdad had given him, on the table. His parents joined him, sitting across from him and eating breakfast together, like they did every morning. It was a welcome routine for him, the soft chatter and friendly ambiance between them being the only things to distract him from the anxiety building in his stomach at the thought of another school day. 

When they’d finished breakfast, he stood up again, gathering his bag and the things he would need for school, to get ready. Going to school was one of the things he dreaded most about the mornings, as he could already see how typically dull and dreadful his school day was probably going to be. 

He grabbed his bag then, saying goodbye to his parents before walking to the door, and stepping outside. 

As he made his way to the bus stop, he took his phone out of his pocket, choosing his favorite song from his playlist before putting his headphones in. Loud music blared through them, filling his ears, and Liam let it envelop him as he walked over the quiet streets, giving him some time for a peaceful walk before he had to get on the bus. 

When he reached the abandoned bus stop, he didn’t have to wait long until the bus arrived, only a few minutes before the bus pulled up to the stop. Liam grabbed his bag, putting his phone back into his pocket, before getting on the overly full bus. He pushed his way past the people, without drawing too much attention to himself and remembering that this was exactly why he never took the bus, until he spotted Mason and the empty seat that he’d saved beside him. 

‘I wish we’d never have to take the bus,’ he said with a sigh, falling down in the seat. 

‘Hello to you too,’ Mason chuckled. ‘I told you, my car broke down. I’m sorry.’ 

Liam sighed, giving him a small smile. ‘It’s okay,’ he sighed softly, as the bus began to drive towards school. He paused his music, putting his phone in his bag, before looking up. 

He knew that there was a certain kind of people who took the bus. And it definitely wasn’t for the cool kids. 

‘I’m so glad today is a short day,’ Mason said beside him then, letting out a sigh. ‘Kind of need to ease back into it after the weekend, you know?’ 

Liam let out a laugh at that, pushing Mason against his shoulder a little. ‘Yeah, sure,’ he giggled, as he could already see that it wouldn’t be long anymore before the bus reached the parking lot of the school. 

As the bus pulled up to the school and drove onto the parking lot, Liam could feel his anxiety returning a little, leaving an uneasy feeling in his stomach, and with a sigh, he grabbed his bag. With Mason following after him, he got out of the bus, waiting for him outside by the doors before walking towards the school together. Liam ignored some of the looks that were thrown his way, staring at the ground as he knew that they most likely weren’t all positive, and swallowed as they reached the doors of the school. He was happy to get inside. 

‘Is it okay if we stop by my locker for a moment first?’ Mason asked there. ‘I have to get some of my books for class.’ 

Liam nodded, walking beside him to his locker, and looking up as the sound of loud voices by the entrance caught his attention. 

Theo Raeken. Of course it was him. 

Liam could see the other boy in his natural habitat, surrounded by a big group of friends that he had to greet, who all talked to him and laughed at his jokes, as he acted like the whole school was his. 

Theo was the most popular guy in their school, captain of the football team, with the most friends and the most attention, and generally well-liked by everyone, but Liam didn’t see the appeal of any of them. He had always felt intimidated by Theo’s friends, as he felt like he was the only one who knew what they were really like. 

They’d made fun of him more than once. 

‘I just don’t see why everybody likes him so much,’ he said to Mason, turning to him as Mason closed his locker. ‘Imagine the poor boy or girl that’s his soulmate.’ 

Mason chuckled, shooting a look in Theo’s direction. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘He’s definitely easy on the eyes. I would feel lucky if it was me,’ he joked, grinning, before turning serious again. ‘And… I’m sure there’s a reason why everybody likes him.’ 

Liam frowned, looking into Theo’s direction. ‘Maybe…’ he mumbled, because aside from agreeing with Mason about Theo being good-looking, he didn’t really agree with him on anything else. ‘It doesn’t matter now though, I’m not really into this whole “searching your soulmate” thing right now anyway.’ 

‘Maybe you should be,’ Mason suggested softly. ‘You know I am. And you never know, it might turn out really good.’ 

Liam let out a soft sigh, giving Mason a push against his shoulder. ‘Let’s just get to class, okay?’ he said with a small smile, ready to leave the whole soulmate thing behind. 

Mason nodded and Liam let out a relieved sigh, before they walked to the stairs together to get to class, escaping the corridor before it was filled with people who did the same.


	2. Chapter 2

After a quick ride, during which Brett felt the need to speed unnecessarily, the car pulled up to the parking lot of the school with squeaking tires. Quickly, they put the car to a stop, causing some people to look up in shock, and parked the car in their usual spot close to the doors.

Theo got out of the car, grabbing his bag, and leaned against the car with a smirk. He enjoyed the attention of people looking at him and the nice weather for a moment, as he waited for Josh and Brett to get their bags too. He had the feeling today was gonna be a good day. 

With the three of them, they walked towards the school, and Theo’s attention was caught by Josh and Brett’s linked hands swinging between them. 

He wished that he could have something like them. He hoped that the day he would meet his own soulmate, would come soon. 

‘Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to go to school,’ Brett complained, interrupting his thoughts. ‘Today’s gonna be absolutely shitty, I can feel it.’ 

‘Oh come on,’ Theo protested, rolling his eyes. ‘It’s only school, it can be fun. It’s never really been that bad, right? For us anyway.’ 

‘Ugh, I don’t care. You’re in too good of a mood for me to handle right now, Raeken, I’m not even gonna ask why,’ Brett sighed. 

Josh smirked, grabbing Brett’s hand and starting to pull him towards the school with him. ‘You’re so dramatic,’ he commented, as Theo followed after them with a small smirk on his face. The weird, sudden feeling that today was gonna be good, wasn’t gone yet. 

They stepped inside the school, looking around for their friends, and almost immediately spotting them. Two girls hand in hand, one with straightened black hair and red lips and the other with shoulder-long blonde hair and a slightly oversized denim jacket, strolled towards them. 

‘We were starting to worry you were gonna be late for first class,’ Kira grinned. ‘Again.’ 

‘Nah, I wouldn’t want to miss a second of that,’ Brett said sarcastically, giving Lori a quick hug. ‘Hey little sister.’ 

‘Don’t think I didn’t notice you were taking way more time to get ready than usual this morning,’ she replied, rolling her eyes. 

‘Oh, don’t think I don’t notice when you do the same,’ Brett responded, leaning against Josh a little more as he wrapped his arm around his waist. Lori giggled, stepping closer to Kira and lacing their fingers together. 

Looking at his friends, three soulmate couples together who already found each other, made Theo feel jealous, wishing for his own soulmate even more. He was sure it would feel good, to have that special someone you could share everything with, because right now, there were things Theo couldn’t even tell his best friends. That just wasn’t how it worked for them. 

He had sometimes actively tried to find his soulmate, but it had never been a success. It stung a little, but he had to remind himself that he would find him one day, and that he wasn’t the only one in their friend group who hadn’t found their soulmate yet. That always made him feel a little bit better. 

He saw the rest of their friends walking towards them then, joining the group before they saw it was time to go to class, and walking to the classroom together. 

Purposely, they took the longest route to get there, having to put with Brett’s complaining about school, and Theo made sure to smile back at everyone in the hallway who smiled at him. When they arrived at the classroom, Theo stepped inside, and immediately spotted Liam Dunbar, who was already sitting at the front of the room. 

Of course he was. It was the perfect place to take notes after all. 

For just a moment, one short, quick moment, the thought that Liam looked cute with his glasses flashed through Theo’s head, but he quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind again. It was, after all, still Liam Dunbar. 

Following after his friends, he walked to the back of the classroom where they usually sat, and took a seat beside Corey. 

‘So, you look like you’re excited for this class,’ he commented sarcastically. 

Theo groaned, rolling his eyes. ‘Shut up,’ he said, as he gave Corey a soft push against his shoulder. ‘You know I hate geography.’ 

Corey giggled, getting his books out of his bag before he said: ‘I hope your weekend was good then at least.’ 

‘Yeah, I guess,’ Theo sighed, leaning against the back of his chair, playing with his pen as a smile appeared on his face. ‘I went out with Brett and Josh on Saturday night, that was fun.’ 

Corey nodded, opening his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the teacher starting the class before he could. 

Theo tried to pay attention, he really did, but class was boring and the monotone voice of the teacher couldn’t stop his thoughts from drifting off. An hour suddenly seemed way too long, he thought, as he absentmindedly drew doodles in his notebook. Theo was glad when it was over. 

After class, he was quick to gather his books, and strolled out of the classroom with his friends to go to their next class. It wasn’t until they were downstairs, though, that Theo realized in annoyance that he left his pencil case in the classroom upstairs. 

‘You go ahead,’ he said, nodding at his friends that they could go without him. ‘I’ll catch up.’ 

Brett nodded and had only turned around half when Theo walked around the corner, only to bump into someone who had just come down the stairs. 

Liam Dunbar. 

His jaw dropped as he saw who were standing across from him, looking shocked and his face pale as he desperately tried not to look anywhere but at Theo, avoiding Brett’s gaze. 

‘Watch where you’re going!’ Theo snapped, ignoring the notebook with loose pages that had fallen out, that Liam had dropped onto the floor. He was already annoyed that he had to go back to get his pencil case, but the horrified expression on Liam’s face only seemed to make it worse. 

‘I’m sorry, I… I didn’t see you,’ Liam managed, quietly and nervously. 

And suddenly the horrified look on his face made sense. For just a moment, Theo felt as if his world had stopped spinning, a sick feeling in his stomach as he realized what was happening, and he stared at the blue-eyed boy before him with his mouth open. 

Those words… Those words Liam said, were the same ones that he had tattooed on his wrist right now. The same ones that his soulmate would first say to him. But… It couldn’t be. 

Initially, he didn’t even notice Brett’s voice beside him, saying something to Liam, but as he tuned back into reality, he caught onto what his friend was saying. 

‘Maybe you should just watch where you’re going next time, okay?’ Brett spoke with his voice full of disdain. ‘Now move along. We don’t have time for people like you.’ 

Theo felt sick, looking at Brett and Liam interacting like that, and a bitter taste filled his mouth. ‘Brett,’ he tried tiredly, pulling his friend’s sleeve. ‘Brett, come on, we have to go to class.’ 

‘Are you sure?’ Brett asked, turning away from Liam. ‘Don’t you want to get your pencil case?’ 

Theo shook his head, avoiding Liam’s nervous gaze. He had to get away from here, away from the sudden confusion… Until he could wrap his head around what was actually going on. ‘No, I’ll borrow a pen from you and get it back later,’ he said, with his jaw clenched. 

Brett frowned, but nodded then, turning around. ‘Okay.’ 

Theo let out a breath in relief, turning away from Liam to follow his friends, but he couldn’t deny the uneasy, angry feeling that had settled in his stomach, like something that was waiting to explode. He could feel Liam’s eyes burning in his back, and he clenched his fists as he walked away from him, leaving him behind. The angry feeling hadn’t passed yet and he was pretty sure that his friends noticed it too, as he marched towards their classroom. It wasn’t his fault though, that today had turned out so completely different to what he thought it was gonna be. He still had trouble understanding how this could happen, to him, even as he rolled up his sleeve and couldn’t keep his eyes away from the words written on his wrist all the way to the classroom. He just didn’t get it. 

Because Liam Dunbar couldn’t be his soulmate, right? 

Shy, quiet, awkward, outcast Liam Dunbar, that he had absolutely nothing in common with, couldn’t possibly be his soulmate. Right? 

***** 

Liam arrived at the classroom early, first like he always did. He found a seat at the front of the room with Mason, greeting Mrs. Williams and got his books out of his bag already. 

‘You’re nice on time again, Liam,’ she said with a smile. 

Liam chuckled, looking up at her. ‘Well, I don’t want to risk being late,’ he said, as more people started to walk into the classroom. 

Mrs. Williams smiled, putting her empty tea mug down on her desk. ‘That’s a good attitude,’ she said, before opening her book for the class she had prepared. 

Liam looked up only to see Theo and his entourage walk inside, but looked away when they walked past him. He just wanted to focus on class right now. 

He was glad when Mrs. Williams started, teaching them about globalization, and Liam happily focused on taking notes. It was mostly for the exams, but he couldn’t deny that he found it pretty interesting. 

Although, of course, it wasn’t history. 

After class, he put his books back in his bag and walked out of the classroom with Mason, saying goodbye to him as he had a different class now. 

‘See you at lunch,’ Mason said, before walking away. 

Liam smiled, turning to walk towards the stairs, with his notebook still clutched in his hand. Hurriedly, he walked down the stairs to make it in time for his next class, eager to get there and to get to lunch afterwards. 

He just didn’t expect to bump into someone. 

His notebook went flying, some loose pages that were inside falling out onto the floor, and when he looked up, he felt his mouth going dry. 

Theo Raeken was standing in front of him, an irritated frown on his face as he saw who it was that he bumped into. He was surrounded by his usual group of followers, who had the same kind of frowns on their faces, and Liam suddenly felt warm, as if the temperature had risen. His stomach churned with panic as he felt their eyes on him, staring at him and making him uncomfortable at the sudden, unexpected attention that he wasn’t used to. 

He swallowed, keeping his eyes on Theo to avoid his friends, preparing himself for the attack he was sure was gonna come. 

‘Watch where you’re going!’ Theo snarled at him, and in that moment, Liam froze. 

He knew those words, could recognize them anywhere, as they were currently tattooed on the inside of his right wrist. 

But that couldn’t be possible. Couldn’t possibly be anything other than a joke, right? 

Liam felt nauseous, had to swallow once before he felt like it was safe to talk again. ‘I’m sorry, I… I didn’t see you,’ he managed, keeping his gaze at Theo’s face to avoid everyone else’s looks, and cringed as Theo’s expression turned into one of complete shock. 

Just like he thought. He could only imagine the words written on Theo’s wrist right then. The words that he had just spoken. 

He just didn’t understand. How could he and Theo be a match? The thought scared Liam, didn’t help with the nauseous feeling, and even though it hurt, he could see that Theo felt the same. 

‘Maybe you should just watch where you’re going next time, okay?’ Brett said then, startling him. ‘Now move along. We don’t have time for people like you.’ 

Liam nodded shortly, biting his lip at Brett’s harsh words, and feeling hurt as he saw that Theo didn’t even try to stand up for him, against his friends. He would lie if he said it didn’t piss him off a little. 

‘Brett,’ Theo tried instead, weakly, pulling at his sleeve. ‘Brett, come on, we have to go to class.’ 

Liam followed their conversation with his mouth half open, confusion and hurt washing over him as Theo focused on all the wrong things. After something about a pencil case, Theo convinced his friends to go to class, and Liam watched with growing hurt as they stormed away. 

His notebook was still lying on the floor, and Liam swallowed, blinking back tears as he leaned down to pick it up. Some loose pages that had fallen out were lying a little further away, and his hands trembled, badly, as he made his way over to them and leaned down to pick them up. He sniffled, wiping his nose and taking a few deep breaths to try and calm down again before making his way to the classroom. 

He hoped class would go by fast. 

After walking into the room, he made sure to avoid Theo’s gaze, and took a seat in the front of the room. With trembling hands, he took out his notebook, and made sure to keep his attention directed at Mr. Wilson. He knew, though, that paying attention was no use, as he could feel Theo’s eyes burning in his back. His thoughts kept drifting off as he kept ticking his pen on the table, wishing that this class would be over already, and he had to try hard not to let the tears that were burning in his eyes fall. He just didn’t understand. He found his soulmate. Shouldn’t that be a happy thing, even if he wasn’t sure he was ready for it yet? Then why wasn’t it for him? 

Why did things like this always happen to him? 

He needed to see Mason. He needed to tell him what happened and talk to him about this. 

When class was over, Liam was one of the first to get up, hastily gathering his books and bolting out of the classroom, in search of his best friend. 

He found Mason in the library, sitting by himself at a table in the back. With a smack he put his bag down, earning Mason’s attention, and sat down at the table across from him with a sigh. 

‘Hey!’ his best friend said cheerfully, before frowning as he noticed that something was off. ‘Is everything alright?’ 

‘Can we… Can we talk?’ Liam asked quietly, blinking back tears. 

‘Yeah, of course. What happened?’ 

Liam took a deep breath, looking up at his friend. ‘I… found my soulmate.’ 

Mason’s eyes widened at that, lighting up with a cheerful look. ‘Really!? That’s amazing, who is it?’ 

‘No, Mase, please don’t…’ Liam started, pausing for a moment to think of what to say before he continued. ‘Please don’t say that. It’s Theo, and I… I really don’t understand how that could happen.’ 

He took a deep breath before he told Mason the story of what happened at the staircase, with Theo and his friends, and rubbed his hands together as he watched Mason’s expression go from surprised and excited, to angry and upset. 

‘Did he really do that?’ he asked. ‘Tell me he didn’t do that.’ 

Liam nodded, looking down at his lap to avoid Mason’s worried gaze. ‘I just don’t understand, I guess. Why would Theo, of all people, be my soulmate?’ 

‘It is rather a coincidence,’ Mason agreed, quickly continuing as he saw Liam looking at him. ‘Since we talked about it this morning, I mean. I don’t mean it in a bad way. But… Don’t you want to give it a chance?’ 

Liam looked up at that. ‘After that thing at the staircase? No, I… I don’t think I do.’ 

‘Are you sure?’ Mason asked. ‘It could be a once in a lifetime chance, Liam. There’s a soulmate for everyone, the perfect person for them.’ 

Liam shook his head. ‘But it’s Theo. How could he and I…?’ 

‘No, stop,’ Mason interrupted him, shaking his head. ‘You always do this. Every time it seems like something good is about to happen to you, you close off. You turn away from it. I know it’s scary, but there really might be something good coming out of it.’ 

Liam sighed, leaning against the back of his chair. ‘Can we not do this right now, please?’ 

Mason remained silent for a moment, thinking it over, but then he nodded. ‘Sure,’ he said, getting up and grabbing his things. ‘All I’m asking is that you think about it. But not now. How about we just focus on getting through the day, and then we watch a movie at my place?’ 

Liam nodded, giving him a smile. Sometimes he thought it sucked that Mason was his only friend, but then he knew that it was probably because of what Mason had just said. He was also his best friend, and Liam was glad that he could talk to him about these things. 

Mason chuckled then. ‘Okay, come on,’ he said, as he pulled Liam out of the library with him. 

The rest of the day, they did what Mason suggested, and as they only had classes together now, the day seemed to go by pretty fast. In history class, Liam felt a little better again already, and before they knew it, the end of the school day came around. 

Liam followed Mason to their lockers to get some books they needed for homework before they went home, but as Liam dug through his locker in search of his math books, a blonde-haired girl with an oversized denim jacket walked over to him. 

Lori. 

‘Liam,’ she said, paying no attention to the surprised look on his face. ‘Hi,’ she said, leaning against the lockers before she continued. ‘I, uh, wanted to apologize for my brother, earlier, and for what he said. He’s not actually a bad person, but that was way out of line. And for Theo too. I don’t know why he said that, but it was too far.’ 

Liam swallowed, unsure of what to say to the girl from Theo’s group. He hadn’t really expected a real apology from any of them. 

‘Uh, it’s okay,’ he started, a little unsure about the sudden situation. ‘Don’t worry about it.’ 

‘Are you sure?’ Lori asked, sounding a little worried. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t say anything then.’ 

‘Yeah, I’m sure,’ Liam replied, taking a deep breath and feeling a little more certain already, appreciating the fact that someone did apologize. ‘It’s okay. Thanks.’ 

Lori gave him a small smile, nodding as she pushed herself back from the lockers. ‘Okay, well, I’ll see you around then?’ 

It was a question that Liam hadn’t expected, asked in such a way as if she hoped for a positive answer. Liam nodded, dumbfounded at her words, and Lori smiled brightly before turning around and walking away. 

Mason grinned then, coming to stand next to him as they watched her walk around the corner. ‘What was that about?’ he chuckled. 

Liam shrugged, looking at his friend. ‘I don’t know. Just being nice?’ 

Mason laughed at that, giving him a soft push against his shoulder. ‘I told you they weren’t all the same!’ 

‘Yeah, yeah, shut up,’ Liam groaned, putting the books he needed in his bag and closing his locker. Mason laughed, doing the same before they walked out of the school. Together, they walked to the bus stop then, ready to go home.


	3. Chapter 3

Theo took most of the day to calm down a little, to get used to the idea of Liam being his soulmate a little, but by the end of the day he wasn’t sure if it actually worked. He was still a little angry, acted a little different than usual, and if his friends noticed, they didn’t comment on it.

At the end of the day, Theo found his way home without having to get a ride from Brett and Josh. When he got there, he was relieved to find that there was nobody home, and with quick steps, he made his way up the stairs to his bedroom.

He needed to draw.

With a sigh, he threw his bag in a corner of his room, and fell down in his desk chair. For just a moment, he paused and took a deep breath, before he pulled out the folder with his drawings. Opening it, he stared down at a pencil drawing of his favorite place in the park that he once made, by the lake, and with a sigh, he grabbed an empty page and a pencil to start a new drawing.

He loved to draw. It always helped him clear his head and distract him a little, so that he could see things a little more clear later. It was just that his parents and his sister didn’t know about it.

With a small smile, Theo put his pencil on the paper and made the first lines, sketching what he wanted to draw.

He had drawn for as long as he could remember, starting when he was little, and getting better at it over the years. In school, art was one of his favorite subjects and he knew he that he wanted to do something with that later, but he always managed to keep it all hidden from his father. He knew that it was not the dream career his dad wanted for him.

After a while of being lost in his thoughts, Theo lifted his pencil from the paper and looked down at his work with a grin. Staring back up at him was a rose, growing and blossoming into something more beautiful, with leaves that looked like they were getting bigger, and coming to life. Theo put the drawing in his folder proudly, safely hidden away from curious eyes.

He felt a little less troubled then, his head cleared a little already. He stayed in his room until dinner, getting his books out of his bag, and starting his homework.

The next morning, Theo was the last one downstairs for breakfast, greeting his parents and Tara when he came into the kitchen. He grabbed a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice like he always did, a little clumsy this time, and ignored the looks that his dad and Tara sent his way as he spilled a few drops on the table.

After breakfast, Brett and Josh picked him up again like they always did, and they speeded to school. They parked in their spot and Theo waited impatiently for his friends to grab their bags before turning, and walking towards the school.

He had the feeling today was gonna be difficult.

When they got inside, they greeted the rest of their group before walking to the classroom together. Theo sighed, dropping his bag on the floor next to his table, and sitting down next to Corey, who gave him a curious look.

Theo shook his head, letting him know that he was fine, and instead concentrated on class, and on the two others that they had before lunch.

When lunch came around, Theo followed his friends through the corridors towards the cafeteria, but looked up in surprise when Corey grabbed his arm and stopped him.

‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’

Theo hesitated for a moment, looking after his friends with a sigh and wishing that he could go with them, but then he nodded. ‘Sure.’

Corey nodded, giving him a small smile before leading him into an empty classroom. Theo walked over to sit at one of the tables at the front of the room, and after closing the door, Corey sat down beside him with his arms crossed.

‘What are you gonna do about it?’ he asked without warning, his eyebrows raised.

Theo’s head shot up. ‘What do you mean?’

Corey sighed, rolling his eyes. ‘You know what I mean! About Liam, of course. I know you two found out that you were soulmates yesterday.’

Theo could feel his heart racing in his chest, as he desperately tried to go over everything that happened and think of how Corey could have figured that out. ‘How do you know that?’

‘Oh, come on, Theo,’ Corey sighed. ‘Brett and Josh looked at each other like that as well when they found out. And Lydia and Malia. It’s not that hard to see.’

Theo’s mouth felt a little dry, and he nodded. Of course there would be someone to figure it out, even if that thought made him feel a little anxious.

‘So what are you gonna do?’ Corey asked again. ‘I mean, you were a little harsh with him yesterday.’

‘I know that!’ Theo started, taking a breath before he continued. ‘It’s just… I don’t understand how he could be my soulmate. We couldn’t be more different.’

Corey leaned against the back of his chair, a pensive look on his face. ‘Well, maybe you have more in common than you think. How would you know if you don’t give it a chance?’

Theo remained silent for a moment, thinking things over for a moment. Say he was gonna apologize to him, and be happy to talk to him again, the other boy had no reason to want to talk to him after what he said yesterday. ‘What would I even say to him?’

‘You could always start with a sorry,’ Corey said. ‘He’d appreciate that more than you think, I’m sure. And then… You get to know each other.’

Theo stayed silent at his words for a moment, thinking over them. He couldn’t deny that they sounded tempting, starting to convince him to go talk to Liam, but even if he did, how would he explain what was really going on? ‘What would people think if they saw me?’ he asked, a little unsure.

‘Theo,’ Corey sighed, rolling his eyes and leaning forward. ‘No one cares. No one. In five years, no one who really matters now will care about some stupid high school status, or who you were. Wouldn’t you rather be with your soulmate instead, then worry about that?’

‘But…’ Theo started. ‘Brett…’ But Corey cut him off, sighing softly. ‘Don’t listen to him. Like I said, if he’s really your friend, he won’t care about this.’

Theo remained silent, thinking about Corey’s words. Maybe he did just care a little too much about what other people thought of him. He liked Brett, and he liked hanging out with him, but there was a reason that Corey was really his best friend. He was always honest with Theo, wasn’t scared to tell him what he really thought, and Theo always had fun hanging out with him.

‘Okay,’ he said then, and Corey looked up. ‘Okay, I’ll go find him.’

‘Really?’ Corey asked, happily surprised, and Theo nodded. ‘Yeah.’

A bright smile appeared on Corey’s face, happy with his answer, and Theo stood up, grabbing his bag. He waited for Corey before walking out of the classroom, and checked the time on his phone only to see that lunch break was already halfway over. He was glad to find, though, that they had an hour free after that, so he had a little more time.

‘I’m going back downstairs to the cafeteria, yeah?’ Corey said.

Theo nodded, turning the other way. ‘Sure, I’ll see you later.’

Corey smiled, nodding, before walking towards the stairs. Theo turned around then, although a bit nervous, and walked down the empty corridor. He knew exactly where he could find Liam.

*****

Just like he thought, he found Liam in the library. He saw him alone, standing between the bookshelves near the back, browsing through the books to find the next one he was gonna read.

Theo took a nervous breath, pulling his bag onto his back a little better before making his way over to the other boy.

He knew Liam hadn’t seen him, by the way his head shot up when Theo said: ‘Hi,’ and looked over at him. Theo felt a bit startled, looking into Liam’s blue, surprisingly beautiful eyes, that he had not expected. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind though, biting through the awkward feeling he had as he asked: ‘Do you… Maybe have a minute? I think maybe we should talk.’

Liam’s eyes were wide and he looked startled, not having expected the question, or Theo coming to look for him, and he remained silent, thinking of something to say.

Theo gritted his teeth, feeling out of place in the situation, as he had never had to do anything even slightly close to this. ‘Please?’

‘Uh,’ Liam managed then. ‘I…’

Theo interrupted him, his eyes drawn to the book, called The Gone World, that Liam was holding in his hands. ‘You read that too!?’ he asked. ‘It’s amazing!’

He knew that he’d been a little loud, startling Liam a little with his sudden comment, but his eyes were still on the sci-fi book that Liam was holding, his favorite one that he had a copy of at home in his bedroom. ‘Uh, yes, maybe,’ Liam replied slowly as he avoided Theo’s eyes, surprised, but a little more at ease with the topic. ‘It sounds interesting.’

Theo nodded. ‘It is. I have it at home actually. So if you want something nice to read…’

Liam remained silent, turning the book over in his hands before looking up at him. The brief moment where he seemed a little more comfortable was gone, and he looked at Theo with unsure eyes. ‘What… What are you doing here?’

Theo sighed, clearing his throat as he stepped away from Liam a little, remembering who they were and why he was here. In that moment it made him feel a bit better to stand between the bookshelves, privately, where no one could see them. ‘I, uh, thought that maybe we should talk about yesterday.’

Liam didn’t look back at him, putting the book back on the shelf with a sigh and silently rejecting Theo’s recommendation. ‘I didn’t think you wanted to,’ he mumbled.

Theo swallowed, staring at the shy boy before him. ‘Liam, come on…’ he tried, not really having done something like this before, and he was running out of ideas. But if Liam didn’t want to talk…

‘Do you not want to?’ he asked a little unsure. ‘Clear some things up?’

Now, Liam looked up at him, startling Theo a little again with his deep blue eyes. ‘You know, I’m actually a little busy right now,’ he said quietly but determinedly. ‘Is it okay if we do this later?’

Theo was taken aback with the question, taking a little more time to answer it, and Liam walked past him out of the aisle. Theo turned around, staring after him. ‘Liam…’

But Liam was already gone, and Theo could still see his sparkling blue eyes and his shared interest in Theo’s favorite fantasy book. 

***** 

The next time Theo saw Liam, was on Saturday, after not having spoken to him for four days. Theo couldn’t deny that he had started to feel more guilty about what happened when they bumped into each other, and almost automatically, he had started paying more attention to the other boy.

He noticed how Liam was always the first one in the classroom, and even though he saw it before, he now thought about it differently. There was nothing wrong with being on time for class, Theo thought, as if he had to defend the way he slowly started to think differently about Liam… To himself.

He also noticed how Liam was almost always quiet in class, only ever responding to a question from the teacher when they asked him, but he always got it right, especially in history. Theo was impressed.

He just wished Liam would’ve heard him out on Tuesday, even if Theo wasn’t sure how that conversation would’ve gone. Corey had been a little disappointed when Theo told him that the apology hadn’t really worked out, and then, just like him, so was Theo.

Now though, now Theo was standing in line in his favorite coffeeshop downtown, his hands in his pockets as he waited until he could order his drink, when he suddenly spotted Liam standing two spots in front of him in line.

He supposed now was as good time as any to talk to him again, now that there wasn’t anyone to bother them.

With a small smile he walked to the front of the line, up to the counter where Liam was standing and giving the guy in front of him that said he shouldn’t cut in line an apologetic smile, until he was standing next to Liam.

‘Hi.’

Liam looked up, his eyes widening at someone talking to him when he hadn’t expected it, but darkening a little bit again as he saw who it was. ‘Oh, Theo. Hi.’

Theo gave him a small smile, feeling a little unsure with the situation and like he had been a little too impulsive when he walked to the front. Still, he did it, and he had to say something, even if he wasn’t sure what. ‘I didn’t think I’d see you here,’ he said. ‘I’m usually the only one from our class here.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m just getting some coffee,’ Liam replied, making the corner of Theo’s mouth lift up just slightly, as that was what people usually did in coffeeshops. He paid then, walking away to a table in the back of the shop with his cup of cappuccino in his hand.

Theo sighed softly, waiting for the guy in front of him to make his order before he ordered himself, paid for his hot chocolate and walked over to the table where Liam was sitting.

The boy looked relaxed, leaning against the back of his seat and his eyes moving over the pages of the book he was reading, taking a sip from his coffee every now and then. The sight of it made Theo’s heart beat a little bit faster.

He tapped his fingers on the side of the table lightly, making Liam look up.

‘I’m sorry, about earlier,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean to startle you.’

The corner of Liam’s mouth turned up slightly, almost like a smile, before looking down at his book again. Theo nodded, sitting down in the booth across from him. ‘What are you reading?’

‘Oh, eh, a novel I brought with from home, it’s called _Foundryside_ ,’ Liam mumbled, taking a quick look at the cover and only looking up at Theo for a moment, with cheeks that were a little more red than usual.

‘Is it good?’ Theo asked quietly. ‘Maybe I should read it.’ 

At that, Liam sighed and closed his book, looking up at Theo. ‘Why… Why are you sitting here?’ 

‘Well, why not?’ Theo replied. ‘I think it makes more sense than sitting alone, since we both know each other.’

Liam bit his lip, looking down for a moment and letting out a soft sigh, before looking up again. ‘Except it doesn’t.’

His voice sounded soft, and Theo took a sip from his hot chocolate as he looked over at him. ‘What?’

With a dull sound as it hit the table, Liam dropped his book on the table in front of him, and continued. ‘No, I meant, why are you sitting with me? I mean, you’re Theo Raeken. You could hang out with everyone you want. Why would you even sit with me?’

Theo’s jaw dropped, staring at the blue-eyed boy as he continued. He didn’t think Liam would talk so low about himself, as if he wasn’t good enough for Theo just because he was more well-known in school than him. Theo couldn’t deny that it hurt a little, the feeling of guilt slowly settling in.

‘I know you care a lot about reputation,’ Liam said quietly. ‘You’re only friends with people who make you look cool. And… That’s not me. You didn’t say anything to Brett, on Tuesday when he… You just stood there, watching, and it wasn’t even the first time. And that wasn’t…’

Nice, Theo finished Liam’s sentence in his head. And then, he realized what it must have felt like for Liam that he stayed silent. Liam disliked him, because he didn’t speak up when Brett was rude, and just stood there and let it happen. More than once.

It surely made sense how Liam acted reluctant around him, feeling unsure, and Theo felt the regret washing over him, making his stomach churn.

He had never noticed how Liam felt. And having played a part in that made him feel undeniably shitty.

This was the most he had ever heard Liam speak, he realized, but he hadn’t expected it to be so straightforward. He hadn’t expected the other boy to be like that.

But how could he have known, when he never even really paid attention to him?

‘You know what, forget I said anything,’ Liam interrupted his thoughts then, hurriedly getting up from his seat and shoving his book into his bag. ‘I’m just gonna go.’

Theo thought it was clear that their conversation was more than Liam had planned to say, as his cheeks turned a little red. Theo thought it was cute, his heart beating a little faster in his chest, but then Liam stepped away from the table.

‘Bye, Theo,’ he said, softly.

‘No, Liam, wait a minute…’ Theo started, putting his cup down on the table and starting to get up, but Liam turned away, walking away from the table and leaving his half empty cup behind. Hurriedly he walked towards the doors, before Theo could say anything, and the light that was shining through the large windows was shining on him too, almost making his dark blonde hair look like it was gold. His eyes lit up, his blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight, and taking Theo’s breath away for a moment.

Liam was suddenly one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, and he would try hard to make things right.

*****

After some long and hard thinking, with help from Corey, Theo figured out some things that he wanted to say to Liam as an apology, and decided to give it another chance.

It took him a few days to convince himself that he was brave enough to look for Liam again, but on Monday, he went to the library with Corey during lunch break, where he knew he would find him.

When Theo stepped into the library, a place he seemed to find himself in a lot all of a sudden, his heart was beating fast in his chest, and his stomach sank when he didn’t see Liam anywhere. There was just Mason at the big table in the middle of the room.

He told himself it was okay then though, as Liam was probably just somewhere between the bookshelves, just like Corey said where he’d be. Theo took a breath, making himself relax a bit, and gave a short nod at Mason when he saw the boy looking at him, to let him know that he was serious about making this right.

It would be alright.

Nervously, he walked past the bookshelves with Corey following after him, until he had found Liam in one of the last aisles of the library. His heart was beating a little fast, a bit nervous, but he had the words that he wanted to say in his head, and he wouldn’t give up so easily this time.

‘Liam,’ he said softly.

The other boy looked up in surprise when he heard his name, closing his book. ‘Theo… Hi…’

Theo gave him a small smile, trying to hold onto the confidence he usually had, that always seemed to disappear when he was with the other boy.

‘Hi,’ he said quietly, before starting his apology the way he had thought about it. ‘I know you probably didn’t expect this, after last time at the coffee shop I mean, but I really felt like I needed to say something. To… To clear some things up and…’

He saw the way Liam’s face fell at his words, which Theo now realized probably sounded like he was here to make an end to everything and that he didn’t want to work things out, and he panicked. ‘And to make things right,’ he continued hurriedly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Corey standing beside him, looking through the books on the shelf, and silently supporting him.

‘We’re… We’re soulmates, Liam, and I messed up. I know that. But I would very much like to explore this thing,’ he finished, nervously. His heart was racing in his chest, so that people could probably hear it, and his red cheeks felt heated.

‘Uh, I…’ Liam started with his cheeks red as well, before he was interrupted by Mason walking up to them. ‘Liam?’ he asked. ‘Everything alright here?’

Theo turned around to face Mason, nodding at him, and hoping that Liam felt the same way. Mason seemed wary, looking at Theo with a frown on his face, until Liam spoke up again. ‘I think so,’ he said.

Mason smiled softly and nodded, turning to look at the bookshelves and search for a certain book he needed. When he noticed that it wasn’t on the shelf and Corey actually had it, he turned toward the other boy with a friendly smile on his face. ‘Sorry, but can I borrow that, maybe?’ he asked.

Corey looked up, his jaw dropped in shock, and Mason frowned in confusion at his expression. He opened his mouth, ready to say something, but Corey beat him to it.

‘It’s you,’ he said softly.

Mason’s eyes widened in surprise, not having to ask what he meant, as the words that Corey had just said were probably tattooed on his wrist right then. A sign of their bond as soulmates.

‘Hi,’ Corey laughed, putting the book back on the shelf. Mason’s eyes sparkled. ‘Hi,’ he grinned back, his fingers wrapping around Corey’s wrist softly as they turned and walked away together, to talk about what they had just discovered.

Theo stared after them with wide eyes, and a longing feeling. Why it couldn’t just be that easy for him as well?

‘Sorry,’ Liam mumbled then, his quiet voice drawing Theo back to reality as he tried to walk past him, but Theo stopped him, carefully. If he didn’t do this now, he didn’t know when he might get another chance.

‘No, Liam, please wait a minute,’ he said softly but determinedly, looking into the other boy’s gorgeous blue eyes. ‘I know we didn’t really get a chance to talk last time, but it’s important to me, and I meant it when I said that I want to make things right. And yes, I messed up when you bumped into me on the stairs, and I know that. But we’re soulmates, and I really would like to figure this out, with… With you.’

Liam looked up at him with wide eyes and Theo swallowed, knowing that his next words were the most important ones yet. It mattered how he said them. ‘I’m sorry, Liam,’ he started with a serious voice, making sure that the other boy knew how much he meant this. ‘I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything, to help you.’

Liam’s cheeks were red, seeming unsure of what to say, and Theo could see that his words had overwhelmed him a bit. They were true though, he was sorry, and Theo felt that he really did regret making assumptions about Liam, thinking that he knew him when he didn’t, and that he had never really paid attention to him. How else would he know how soft and kind Liam was?

He smiled, deciding to start an easier conversation for now. They could talk more about this later.

‘Have you finished the book that you were reading at the coffeeshop already?’ he asked. ‘Since you’re here looking for something new.’

‘No, I…’ Liam started nervously, looking up at Theo a little unsure. ‘I always read like two books at the same time. It’s kind of a weird habit, I know…’

Theo chuckled, smiling. ‘It’s not that weird,’ he grinned reassuringly. ‘And besides, we all have them.’

Liam seemed to relax a little at that, his eyes shining just a little bit brighter, and he nodded. Theo could feel the butterflies in his stomach, unable to keep the smile from his face. ‘So,’ he asked. ‘Are you coming to the game tonight?’

The big football game that their school had that night had been pretty popular under the students, everyone talked about it, and the posters that had been hung up everywhere made it kind of hard to miss too. A small smile appeared on Liam’s face, making Theo’s stomach flutter, and he nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Yeah, I think I could come.’

‘Cool,’ Theo said, looking forward to the game already. He liked that there was a chance that Liam would be there, and he liked that he was able to talk a little better with Liam now, the other boy seeming a little more relaxed after his apology. It made him happy, got him thinking that things would be alright after all. ‘So, I’ll see you tonight then?’ he asked, hoping that Liam’s answer would be positive.

Liam gave him a small smile. ‘Yeah. Sure. But, uh, now I gotta…’ He nodded towards the big table in the middle of library, still seeming a little shy around Theo, and Theo chuckled. ‘Of course. I’ll let you get back to work.’

‘Thanks,’ Liam chuckled quietly, as they walked towards the table. There, Liam sat back down in his seat, pulling his books and notebook closer to him, and Theo turned around happily.

He couldn’t believe that he had done this. He couldn’t believe that he had actually apologized and made things right with Liam.

It made his heart race.

His smile seemed to be permanently stuck on his face, unable to keep it from re-appearing even if he wanted to, and he looked for Corey, eager to drag his friend out of the library and tell him everything that’d happened.

He was sitting at the table though, his face close to Mason’s as they talked softly and secretively about God knows what, and Theo smiled. He was happy for him, and it would probably be best if he left him to it. He turned around, giving Liam a smile as a goodbye. ‘I’ll see you tonight,’ he said, and Liam nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ll see you tonight.’

He walked out of the library then, pausing outside the door. There, he took a deep breath, to try and calm down a little again, before the smile returned to his face.

He’d done it. He’d apologized to Liam and made things right with him, and the thought made Theo happy, relieved, even a little proud of himself, taking a weight from his shoulders. He let out a soft sigh, before walking out of the hallway and back downstairs, already looking forward to the events from tonight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for this part being so short! I think the next ones will be longer :) Hope you still like it!

It was already fairly busy when Liam arrived at the game, with Mason and Corey walking behind him.

The field was buzzing with people, as both teams and their coaches were already there, and the bleachers were already getting equally as crowded. All of the voices talking and shouting over each other was a bit overwhelming for Liam, as he normally didn’t go to these kinds of things, and even though he still had to get used to Corey, the boy was generally nice, and Liam was glad that they came with him tonight. 

With a small smile on his face he bit on his lip, and looked for Theo. 

Admittedly, he’d been surprised when the other boy had come to look for him in the library, after their talk in the coffeeshop he didn’t think they would see each other so soon again. He’d thought that’d been the end of it, but he’d been wrong. He appreciated the apology though, Theo showed that he thought about what was said during their little talk in the coffeeshop, and that he understood what went wrong and what he needed to apologize for. 

It made something Liam’s stomach flutter and gave him a weird, warm feeling in his chest, one that he wasn’t familiar with and was a bit wary of, one that he wasn’t too keen on figuring out right now and decided not to for the time being. It was enough that Theo had apologized, really apologized, and shown that there was a bit more to him than just caring about who he was and his status in high school like Liam had always thought. 

It made him feel a little bit better about recognizing and appreciating the fact that Theo was good-looking. Really good-looking. For the first time, he felt like perhaps he was a little more okay with Theo Raeken being his soulmate. 

***** 

Theo was already standing on the field when he saw Liam arriving, standing between his teammates as his coach spoke to them when the slightly younger boy walked up to the field with Mason and Corey behind him, and caught his attention. He looked around him shyly, seeming a little nervous about how big of a thing this game was, before he took a seat on the bleachers with his best friend and Corey. Theo thought it was because this was one of the first times that Liam had come to one of these games. He felt a bit guilty for asking that from the other boy, but another part of him was excited that Liam had come here because he asked him too, his heart beating a little bit faster in his chest. He hoped that that meant that Liam had accepted his apology too. 

He caught Liam’s eye once when the boy climbed up the bleachers, sending him a small smile that Liam returned shyly and with a blush on his cheeks. Theo’s heart started to race, and he looked around. Next to Corey, on the boy’s other side, he could see Lori sitting on the bleachers, most likely to watch her brother play. Kira sat next to her, holding Lori’s hand in her lap, and a few rows behind them, he saw Lydia and Malia. He only caught a glimpse of Malia shooting a strange look in Liam’s direction, making him feel vaguely annoyed, before she started laughing about something Lydia said, and Theo smiled at knowing that his friends were all here tonight, supporting him and the team. 

Someone called his name then, and Theo turned around to Brett hitting him against the shoulder excitedly, and the coach shouting a few last things before they ran onto the field. Theo focused on the game there, getting ready to play. He felt the adrenaline running through his veins already as he got on the field, like it always did before a game, and it helped that he was surrounded by his teammates, and his friends Brett and Josh. He loved football, and he felt just right standing on the field, his confidence growing as he got ready to play the game, and ready to win the game. 

***** 

Liam had no idea that football could be so rough. He’d heard some things, of course, but seeing it with his own eyes for the first time, was kind of a different story. 

He enjoyed it though, enjoyed watching it and had found Theo on the field pretty soon already, recognizing him by his number, keeping his eyes on the other boy and following his every move, even if he didn’t always understand what was going on. Unlike Corey, who really understood the game as he must’ve watched his friends play so many times, and stood up cheering loudly every time their team seemed to have scored a touchdown. Mason looked up at him with a grin on his face and a sparkle in his eyes every time he did, and joined him in his cheering a little while later, standing up every time Corey did, for the rest of the game. 

Liam was happy for his friend, truly, but the sight of them made something twist in his stomach. He knew, inside, that he wanted what they had. He wanted what they had with Theo. And that scared him. 

He looked back to the other boy on the field as the game was coming to an end, where he was walking to the middle of the field to the rest of his team with a smile on his face, as Brett and Josh caught up with him and hit him against his shoulder cheerfully, congratulating him on their win. Liam smiled softly, happy that their team won, but seeing the three friends together left him feeling a bit sad, a bit wistful inside, and he took a deep breath. 

He wanted to be able to do that with Theo. To act so carefree, around him, like they had a trusted relationship and it would cost him no trouble to be himself around Theo. 

The thought made his heart race, because he knew what could happen to your soulmate relationship if you didn’t watch out. He knew what could happen if you weren’t careful and he knew the flaws in the soulmate system. 

But Theo was beautiful. Sometimes during the day, when the sun shined through the large windows at school, it would light up Theo’s eyes, making them sparkle and look extra green, almost like a sunny forest, and making it look there was kind of a golden glow around him. Liam had trouble looking away from him when that happened, especially that day in the library when Theo apologized. He had shown that maybe there was a bit more to him than what Liam had always thought, and it forced him to re-evaluate his opinion about the other boy. 

He wasn’t sure whether he really liked that, or if he was ready for that, even though the feeling that he just wanted to give this a chance was strong. He felt a bit conflicted whether he should just do that and go for it, or go with a safer option instead like he usually did. 

It would certainly mean that there was less of a chance of getting hurt. But it also meant that he would probably always be wondering what could have been. 

He already knew what Mason would say about this, could basically hear his best friend’s voice in his head. He was always telling Liam that it was okay to take a chance sometimes, and that things wouldn’t always turn out as bad as he thought. 

He felt a little pressured to make a decision right then and there, but he told himself that, maybe this time, it was okay to wait. That he didn’t have to have it all figured out right now. This time he could just go along with things as they happened, instead of trying to plan it all, and even though it wasn’t what he usually did and it was scary, he would just see what would happen and it would be alright. Especially if Mason was still there to help every time he felt unsure. 

‘Liam, are you coming?’ Mason’s voice interrupted his thoughts then, as some kind of coincidence. ‘The game’s over and Corey wants to congratulate the team.’ 

Liam nodded, swallowing and already getting anxious at the thought of talking to anyone who wasn’t Theo, especially if they were Theo’s asshole friends, but he steeled himself, and stood up. Following after Mason and Corey he walked down the bleachers, staying behind as they walked up to the team to greet them, and waited by the side of the field until they were done again. 

As he did though, and looked at the team, the wish to be able to act so carefree around Theo, came back to him again, as strongly now as it had been before. 

***** 

Loud cheering filled Theo’s ears, people all around him clapping him on the back to congratulate him on the win, as his chest swelled with a triumphant and proud, happy feeling and he was unable to keep the smile from his face. 

They had won. Their team had actually won. 

Brett gave him a push against his shoulder, looking very pleased with the outcome himself as the corners of his mouth were actually turned up just slightly, and he received a high five from Josh. When Theo looked to the side, he saw Corey and Liam’s friend Mason coming their way, Kira and Lori running past them towards Brett, but it took him a moment longer to look around and actually spotted the boy that he was hoping to see. 

Liam was standing at the side of the field, obviously staying behind to not have to talk to Theo’s friends, and a sharp feeling of guilt coursed through him. 

Suddenly, the thought of celebrating the game didn’t seem so exciting anymore as Theo couldn’t do it with Liam, and even though he knew Brett was having a party at his house to celebrate the win, it seemed unlikely that inviting Liam would be a good idea, or that he even wanted to come. 

Theo knew that he couldn’t really skip the party, as it would raise questions from Brett and his other teammates, and even though it surprised him a little to find that he would actually rather do something with Liam, he knew that parties like Brett threw them weren’t really Liam’s scene. 

He waited until had gone more quiet on the field, and most of the team had gone back to the locker room to change before going to Brett’s house, before he took a breath and jogged over to the side of the field where Liam was standing. 

‘Hey,’ he smiled, a little out of breath. 

A bright smile appeared on Liam’s face, as he turned around to him. ‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘Uhm… Congratulations. On winning the game, I mean. You were good.’ 

Theo chuckled, his stomach fluttering at Liam’s faint red cheeks, and couldn’t keep the thought that this boy was too adorable for his own good away. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘I’m glad to see you could come tonight,’ and he couldn’t help but feel a little helpless in the situation himself. He knew what he wanted to ask Liam, now was just a question of how he was going to do that. He could feel his cheeks heating up. ‘Uhm,’ he started, fumbling with his hands nervously. ‘Do you… I mean, Would you… Want to hang out tomorrow, after school? If you have time of course!?’ 

He brushed a hand through his hair, not sure where his confidence went, since he usually had no trouble talking smoothly, or like a normal person. But now he didn’t seem to be able to form words normally anymore. 

‘Really?’ Liam asked, sounding quietly hopeful, his eyes shining just a little bit brighter as he bit his lip. 

Theo swallowed, feeling warmer than a moment ago. ‘Yeah,’ he said, getting the words out normally this time. ‘We could get ice cream, or go the bookstore at the mall. Or whatever you want.’ 

A small smile appeared on Liam’s face, and he nodded. ‘Getting ice cream and going to the bookstore in the mall sounds fun,’ he said softly, looking happy. 

Theo couldn’t stop the smile from appearing on his face then, and he nodded. ‘Okay,’ he said, feeling like his nerves had been soothed a bit and he had calmed down a little. His heart wasn’t racing so fast anymore, at least. ‘Then I’ll see you at the ice cream shop at two tomorrow?’ 

Liam nodded, smiling. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ before turning around to Mason, and walking away with him. Corey stayed behind, watching them leave before he turned to Theo with a grin on his face. ‘Someone’s got a date,’ he teased, and Theo could feel his cheeks turning bright red. ‘It’s not a date,’ he mumbled, keeping his gaze pointed at the ground. 

Corey chuckled, as they started to walk towards the locker room. ‘Sure,’ he joked knowingly, but Theo rolled his eyes. It really wasn’t a date, he knew, they just weren’t at that level yet. 

He did know, though, that the thought of hanging out with Liam outside of school was making him pleasantly nervous and excited, his heart beating a little faster than normal, and he really was looking forward to it. ‘Come on,’ Corey said then, interrupting his thoughts and pulling Theo with him towards the locker room. ‘We’ve got a party to go to.’


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another part again so soon! I hope you like it :)

As Theo walked into the mall, he could already see Liam waiting for him a little further away, in front of the ice cream shop. A smile formed on Theo’s face and he saw Liam looking at his phone, a small frown of concentration on his face, and the way that the sunlight was shining through the window lit up Liam’s hair, making it almost look like gold, and making him look so beautiful. Theo grinned, feeling the now familiar fluttering in his stomach again.

Liam looked up then, a smile appearing on his face as he spotted Theo, and he waved at him shortly and a bit shyly. Theo walked over to him fast then, and greeted him with a smile. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi,’ Liam chuckled, and Theo stayed silent for a moment, unsure and thinking of where to go from there for a short moment.

‘You ready to go get ice cream?’ he asked then.

Liam nodded, turning towards the shop. ‘Yeah.’

Theo smiled, turning around, and walking into the shop behind Liam. They got in line, and Theo shot a look towards the ice cream flavours. ‘Do you already know what you want?’

‘Yeah, banana,’ Liam said excitedly, seeming more relaxed now than when Theo had seen him at school. ‘It’s the best. Though I might get another flavour too.’

‘Banana?’ Theo grinned. ‘I didn’t think anyone liked that flavour.’

Liam stayed silent next to him, and Theo swallowed worriedly, wondering if Liam didn’t get that it was a joke. Had he messed this up already? Why did that seem like something only he could manage to do?

‘I think I’ll have the chocolate,’ he said, before they ordered. ‘And the cookies ‘n cream.’

With their ice cream cones they walked out of the shop again then, and Liam looked toward Theo’s ice cream with a small smile on his face. ‘That looks good too,’ he said. ‘Should we sit here?’

Theo let out a soft breath of relief, glad that Liam still talked, and he nodded, taking a seat on the bench beside him.

‘So how’s school going for you?’ he asked, to start the conversation. ‘Is it alright?’

‘Well…’ Liam started, eating his ice cream. ‘My grades are alright, but… High school’s not for everyone, I suppose.’

Theo nodded, looking away as a wave of guilt hit him. He didn’t want to know that he had played a part in making Liam feel that way, it hurt him, but it was true.

He smiled then, looking around the mall. ‘I had no idea that toy store was still here,’ he chuckled, nodding towards a store at the other side of the mall. ‘When I was younger, my mom always used to take me and my sister there for our birthdays. My dad always complained about having to pay.’

His smile turned sad at the memory, remembering how his dad always walked a few steps behind them, tagging along even though he’d preferred not to, and complaining every now and then. He didn’t want to think about that now. He wasn’t going to let that ruin this afternoon.

‘That sounds nice,’ Liam said quietly next to him. ‘We…’

He took a breath, and Theo saw the small tears gathering in his eyes. Shocked, with his jaw dropped and his heart beating fast, he turned towards the other boy, only thinking about it once before placing his hand on his knee. ‘Hey, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,’ he said softly.

Liam let out a soft laugh, wiping his nose. ‘Sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t mean to spoil this…’

‘Nothing’s spoiled,’ Theo promised with a soft smile on his face. ‘We’re just having ice cream, having fun hanging out, right?’

‘Right,’ Liam chuckled, looking up at Theo with sparkling blue eyes that took his breath away for a moment. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, something that had happened to Liam and had affected him in some way, but he wouldn’t push for it now. If Liam wanted to tell him, he would do so in time, and Theo would make sure that when he wanted to, he would feel secure enough to know that he could.

After finishing their ice cream, and Liam telling Theo more about what he liked to do outside of school like reading and playing video games with Mason, showing Theo a glimpse of how special his best friend and his mom, too, were to him, they stood up and walked to the big bookstore they knew was on the other side of the mall.

Theo followed Liam inside, walking in behind him and going with the other boy as he walked right to the back of the store. Theo chuckled. ‘Is this where the best books are?’ he asked.

Liam nodded softly, turning around with a smile. ‘Yeah, I… usually find the ones I want to read here,’ he explained.

Theo nodded, and looked around him, seeing that they were standing in the sci-fi and fantasy section. He wasn’t surprised. Those were all the types of books he’d seen Liam read so far.

He smiled, walking over to one of the shelves and grabbing one of the books out of the bookcase to read what was on the back. He had to admit it sounded interesting. Maybe Liam would like it too.

Smiling, he turned around, and saw Liam standing by a different bookshelf, browsing through the books in concentration. For a moment, Theo could picture them doing things like this more often, as if it was just right for them, and the warm feeling in his stomach was back.

He walked over to Liam then, tapping on his shoulder and holding out the book as he turned around. ‘What would you think of this?’

Curiously, Liam looked from him towards the book and slowly took it from him, before letting his eyes fly over the backside. Grinning, he looked up again. ‘That sounds definitely interesting,’ he said. ‘I’d read it!’

Theo chuckled. ‘It does, doesn’t it?’ he laughed, as he realized that he and Liam pretty much liked the same stuff when it came to reading. It pleasantly surprised him. ‘You should buy it,’ he said.

Liam’s smile faded, and he looked down. ‘I don’t… Really have the money for it now,’ he mumbled, and something in Theo’s chest stung. ‘Oh.’

Liam took a deep breath, looking up. ‘It’s fine,’ he responded. ‘I can just save money for it, now that I now it’s here. Where did you get this again?’

Theo hesitated, but then he took the book back from Liam and placed it back on the shelf. It hurt a little, when Liam clearly wanted to have it, but Theo hoped that he would have enough money for it soon.

To turn things around a little again, cheer him up a bit, Theo stopped by the shelves with magazines and grabbed one that looked a little pink and was clearly aimed at young women, in hopes that there would be a dumb but fun quiz inside they could do. After a quick look inside, he found a quiz exactly like that, and with a grin he went back to Liam, who was now standing by the cookbooks.

‘Hey,’ Theo smiled, joining him. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘Oh, just this,’ Liam chuckled softly, blushing, holding up the book with a recipe for an original kind of pasta salad for Theo to see.

‘That… Actually looks really nice,’ Theo laughed, looking up at the boy beside him again. ‘We should try that sometime!’

It only took a moment to realize what he said, basically suggesting that they should cook together sometime and how it sounded like they’d already been hanging out for far longer than they had, but when he did, he could feel his mouth go dry and his face go pale. ‘I mean… If you…’

‘Maybe, sometime, I’ll think about it,’ Liam interrupted him, and by the way he was looking down, Theo could tell that he’d been a little brave for saying it.

He smiled. ‘Here,’ he said, holding up the magazine. ‘I saw that this had kind of a dumb quiz inside. We could try it, if you want?’

Liam raised his eyebrows, looking up. ‘Really? In there?’

Theo burst out laughing, looking for the right page. ‘I know, but it could be fun, hang on. It only has five questions.’

Liam bit his lip, something that Theo had realized he always did when he was in thought and couldn’t help but find a little attractive, but then he nodded. ‘Yeah, alright.’

‘Okay,’ Theo chuckled, opening the magazine by his finger and reading the first question. ‘When will you and your soulmate get married , question one. How long have you been together?’

Theo couldn’t hold back his laughter at that, and when he swore he could hear Liam mumble sarcastically: ‘That sounds promising already,’ it only made it worse. They both made up an answer, Liam saying that it had been a year and Theo going for two years instead, before they continued to the next question. During the quiz, Theo could see Liam starting to relax more and more, just laughing without caring what other people thought and letting himself have fun, and he thought it was probably the most beautiful he had seen the other boy so far.

He just looked so happy and carefree, and Theo wanted to keep it like that.

He read out the next question in the magazine, unable to keep the grin off his face and a warm feeling in his chest every time he saw Liam laugh, until they got to the last question and their results.

Then, Liam peeked over his shoulder, trying to read what it said. Theo tried his best to keep the magazine away from him, laughing.

‘Stop,’ he giggled, taking a step back. ‘That’s cheating!’

‘No such thing,’ Liam said, pouting, that looked absolutely adorable. ‘This is just a quiz, you can’t cheat on a quiz. And I would never do that.’

Theo took a deep breath, getting himself to stop laughing, before he read both of their nonsensical results out loud, telling Liam that sadly, he wasn’t going to get married for another three years and he himself not for two years.

‘Ah,’ Liam joked, with feigned sadness sounding in his voice. ‘That’s so not what I was hoping for.’

‘I know,’ Theo chuckled, as he put the magazine back where he found it. ‘Tell me about it,’ he said as they walked out of the bookstore, and back outside into the mall. Together, they walked outside again, out of the mall, where Liam looked up at Theo with a soft look on his face.

‘I really had fun today, Theo,’ he said quietly, a little shy again.

Theo’s heart started to beat a little faster at that, and he stepped a little closer, smiling. ‘Me too,’ he said, softly. ‘Maybe we can… do it again?’ he asked, sounding hopeful.

Liam nodded softly at that. ‘Yeah,’ he said, sounding sure of that. ‘Definitely.’

Theo couldn’t hide his smile at that, happy to hear that Liam wanted that too, and again, he regretfully wondered why he’d never given Liam more of a chance in the past. Part of him knew, though, that he hadn’t been ready for it. But he wanted to be now.

‘Okay,’ he said then. ‘We could always hang out at the park too. Or… Come back here.’

‘It doesn’t matter to me,’ Liam smiled, and Theo could see how relaxed the other boy already was around him now. It was such a difference from the beginning of their time hanging out, when they’d met in front of the ice cream shop, and Theo could see how far Liam had already come since then. He was glad that he made Liam feel like he could be easy to hang out with, that he’d made the other boy feel more at ease, and it was definitely something he wanted to keep, and keep doing, if it meant he could keep seeing the other boy so relaxed, and laughing, around him. If it meant that they could see each other more often and keep having a good time together.

After they’d both said their goodbyes to each other, and exchanged their phone numbers so they could still text with each other in the meantime, Theo walked in the opposite direction from Liam, to the exit of the mall, and walked outside. There, he stood still for a moment, letting out a deep breath, and let a smile form on his face. He’d had a good time, with Liam, and he wanted to keep having that. He was sure that this afternoon, he’d been the most happy, more happy than he’d been in quite a while.

*****

**Theo:** _Mrs. Jenkinson always gives the most boring classes. I don’t know how to survive this…_

**Liam:** _Oh, but you totally can! I’ve had that struggle many times before and I survived._

**Theo:** Y _eah, but you’re good at that. The back of the classroom isn’t made to pay attention to what happens at the front._

**Liam:** _Haha, no kidding. I know a lot of times when I’ve not seen you do that, at all._

Theo smiled, looking down at his phone with a grin. He and Liam had been texting for a while now, ever since they’d exchanged their numbers at the mall, and Theo loved it.

Recently, the last couple of days, they’d been texting more, getting to know each other, and Theo’s heart beat faster in happiness every time they did. At school, they didn’t really talk in person, they kept it at texting for now mostly, which Theo thought was something they’d both preferred. They saved the part where they hung out for until after school, when they didn’t have to worry about who saw them, and they did that then, too. They’d been doing that for a week now, at the park or at the mall, getting ice cream or returning to the bookstore, and in that way, combined with their texting at school, Theo found out what a funny guy Liam actually was, and how his humor was subtle but witty, smart. They talked about all their favorite books, movies and music, which Theo found out was something they had mostly in common, as they were both into the sci-fi genre and into the same bands. Like that, through texting as well as hanging out, Theo could feel their bond growing stronger, both of them being able to be themselves and relaxed around each other. Something had changed, not only between them, but inside of him as well. Theo could feel himself wanting to talk to Liam more and more because of that, could feel himself being drawn to him, and he knew why. He knew that it was a result of their soulmate bond.

Currently, they were both in different classes, Theo knew that Liam had history right now, but the fact that Liam was texting him now put a smile on Theo’s face. With a grin he stared down at his phone screen, where their conversation was still visible. They got along so well, and again, Theo couldn’t shake the regretful feeling of not finding that out sooner. Of not giving Liam a chance sooner, and instead thinking that he knew the other boy when he really didn’t.

How could he have been so prejudiced?

‘Hey,’ he was interrupted then, by Brett, who was sitting at the table next to him, elbowing him in the side. ‘Who are you texting?’

Startled, in shock, Theo looked up with red cheeks and tried to hide his phone from Brett’s view, who was trying to peek over his shoulder to get a good look at it. ‘Nobody,’ he said quickly, stressed.

‘Didn’t look like nobody,’ Brett winked, a wide, knowing grin on his face. ‘Not with the way you were smiling.’

Theo blushed, looking away to avoid Brett’s gaze. ‘Like I said, it was nobody,’ he mumbled, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

‘Uh huh,’ Brett grinned knowingly, shooting Theo a quick look that Theo saw from the corner of his eye, before he turned to look back at the front of the room and left it alone, not pushing it this time. With a sigh, Theo pushed his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and turned his attention back to Mrs. Jenkinson, trying to focus on what she was saying even though he knew he’d fail. With a sour taste in his mouth he sat through the rest of the class, just as he heard the soft ping and felt the soft buzz from his phone inside his pocket, that told him another text from Liam had come. Theo didn’t answer, and instead tried to stay focused Mrs. Jenkinson’s class. The sour taste didn’t leave his mouth for the rest of the class.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only Thiam! :)

‘Hi!’ Liam greeted brightly, smiling at Theo as soon as he opened the door for him. Theo’s heart started to beat faster as he looked into Liam’s sparkling blue eyes, and with a smile, he held the door open further for him.

‘Hi,’ he greeted him back softly. ‘Come in.’ 

Liam nodded, stepping over the doorstep into the hallway, and looked around curiously. Theo gestured to the coat rack, telling Liam that he could hang up his jacket there, and with a smile Liam did what he said. 

Their plan to hang out at one of their houses, instead of at the park or the mall all the time, had come a little sudden, Theo had looked at Liam one time and shyly mumbled an invitation to come over, but he didn’t mind. 

Not when he felt like it was way overdue. 

Liam had agreed to it pretty easily, even seeming a little excited, and that’s how their plan came to be and they ended up here. Theo smiled softly, waiting for Liam as the boy left his jacket on the coat rack in the hallway, before he followed Theo to the living room. 

There, he looked around with wide eyes, curious, and trying to take it all in. He’d never been in a house like this one, with the large windows that let in a lot of light and the glass doors that led to the big backyard, with the modern styled furniture and expensive looking TV and vases and pictures on the walls, where the fancy-looking sofa was black and the floors were white, where everything was shiny and looked so incredibly… clean. 

He’d only seen houses like this on the outside, and even then they looked big and fancy, and even a little intimidating. But man, he guessed Theo’s family was pretty rich. 

‘So, do you like it?’ Theo asked with a chuckle, as he’d seen the look on Liam’s face when he looked around. 

‘Yeah!’ Liam said excitedly, looking back at Theo and blushing as he caught him already looking at him. Theo thought he looked adorable. He chuckled, looking away from Liam to hide his own blush from him. ‘Yeah, I guess it’s nice,’ he said quietly. ‘But it’s just home for me.’ 

He paused for a moment, looking around his living room, before looking back at Liam and continued. ‘So, do you.. Do you want to go upstairs to my room, for the movie?’ His face felt incredibly hot saying that, and judging by Liam’s red cheeks, he understood. 

‘Yeah!’ he exclaimed hurriedly. ‘Sure.’ 

‘Well, come on,’ Theo nodded back towards the hallway, before going first and walking to the stairs with Liam following after him. 

‘You “guess” it’s really nice,’ he heard Liam mumbling behind him as they walked up the stairs, and Theo couldn’t hold back a giggle at that, because Liam sounded so adorable saying that, and he realized that it may have sounded a bit snobbish to people who weren’t used to these kinds of things. With a grin, he looked over his shoulder. 

‘Alright there,’ he chuckled. ‘You’ll see that my room is nothing like that.’ 

Liam nodded, his blush only a little bit visible this time and looking up at Theo with a grin as he realized that he’d heard him. He looked a little more cheeky, as if he dared to do more around Theo and didn’t question his actions as much, but despite that, Theo could still see something shy in Liam’s eyes. Something sad even, that reminded Theo of the time they’d gone to the mall and Liam seemed to have started to tell him with small tears in his eyes, and now, just like then, Theo wondered what it was that had hurt the boy. 

He wouldn’t push though, not in a million years. He knew Liam would tell him when he was comfortable, and he thought he could trust Theo with it. Then Theo would made sure he was worthy of that trust. 

They came to a stop in front of Theo’s bedroom door, and he gestured towards it awkwardly. ‘This is my bedroom,’ he said unnecessarily, and Liam laughed softly. 

With a soft cough, Theo opened the door and let Liam go in first, looking at him as Liam looked around the room and admiring the way his slightly too long hair seemed almost gold and his ocean eyes sparkled in admiration as he took in everything there was to see in the room. The blue bedroom walls, the bed against the wall on the left side of the room, the big desk that had enough room for two people under the window on the right side of the room, the big bookcase right now next to the door and the plant in the corner next to the bookcase, Liam seemed to like it all. 

‘Your room is so big!’ he blurted, and Theo burst out laughing. Liam pushed him against the shoulder in feigned offense, with a quiet “hey!” and red cheeks, and chuckling, Theo closed the door behind them. 

‘Come on,’ he said, nodding towards the corner of the room where Liam could leave his bag, and he got his laptop from his desk before sitting down on the double bed with his back against the wall and propped up against the pillows. Liam sent him a questioning look, a little unsure, and Theo nodded to let him know that he could just come and sit down next to him. 

With a sigh Liam sat down on the bed as well, still looking at Theo’s room as he waited and passed the time until Theo had gotten ready and had logged into Netflix. Then he turned towards the screen, looking at the options and browsed through Netflix with Theo until they’d found something they both liked, which luckily was easy enough since they were all into the same things. 

Theo selected Bright, clicking on it and shuffled around a bit to get more comfortable as the movie started. 

Liam could feel his body warmth, his side close to his own and their legs pressed together, and it all made it hard for him to breathe. He swallowed, moving away from Theo as subtly as possible, but Theo didn’t seem to notice. He just gave Liam a short, bright smile before turning his attention back to the screen, knocking the breath right from Liam’s lungs and making him feel like his cheeks were on fire. 

Why did he think this was a good idea? He’s never really been to other people’s houses before, aside from Mason’s of course, but he never thought he would end up in one of the rich and popular kids’ houses. Liam swallowed nervously, before he noticed Theo shooting him a worried look from beside him. ‘Are you alright?’ 

Liam looked over at him, sighing. ‘Yeah,’ he said, though he wasn’t sure himself if it was true. He was still getting used to this, and if he was being honest, it scared him. Being here with Theo, relaxing with him like they’d known each other for much longer than they had, it scared him. What if Theo hurt him? Liam didn’t want to think about that. 

‘Come on,’ Theo said softly, soothing, and moving away from Liam a little bit while putting one of his legs over the other as if he understood that that would put Liam a little more at ease. ‘Try to relax, yeah?’ he said as he propped up the pillows a little more comfortable. ‘And enjoy the movie, alright?’ 

Liam nodded, smiling softly, as he already felt more at ease. He could definitely do that, he thought, judging by Theo’s soothing voice and how considerate he was. 

Theo smiled. ‘Okay,’ he said, before continuing the movie. Liam turned his attention back at the scree, at what was happening there, and during their watching the film, neither of them noticed how they subconsciously moved closer to each other again until their shoulders and legs were pressed against each other again as they sat up with their backs against the wall. 

It wasn’t until they’d watched the first half of the movie that Theo paused it again, and looked over at Liam. ‘How about we go downstairs to get some snacks?’ he asked. 

‘Or…’ Liam started, his eyes twinkling. ‘We could finish the movie!’ 

‘No!’ Theo whined, leaning his head back against the wall and looking so adorable that it made Liam’s heart race. ‘I need snacks to go with my movie, Liam. And the movie is half over, just like at the movie theater!’ 

Liam couldn’t hold back his laughter at that and he chuckled, nodding. ‘Okay, come on then,’ he said as he stood up from the bed. Theo nodded and he followed Liam’s lead, both of them walking out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Theo lead Liam to the kitchen and had already walked inside, when he noticed that Liam wasn’t behind him anymore. 

‘Liam?’ he asked worriedly, turning around. He chuckled, though, when he still saw Liam standing behind, just in the doorway, and looking around the kitchen to take it all in. 

‘This is just as nice as the rest of it,’ he said quietly, looking at the large windows that let in a lot of sunlight, the open glass doors that lead to the garden, the big kitchen island with the high chairs in the middle of the room and how white and clean everything was. 

Theo looked over at him, at the wonder in Liam’s eyes, and was suddenly reminded again of the fact that not everyone was used to this. He was sure Liam’s house was nice, but not this. He shouldn’t take it for granted. 

‘Come on,’ he said with a slightly bitter taste in his mouth, his voice cracking a bit as the realization was a little heavy. He cleared his throat, swallowing, and the feeling faded. ‘We got to make some popcorn,’ he smiled. 

Liam nodded, walking further into the kitchen, as if the was scared to break something or make something dirty. He walked over to the refrigerator, silently looking at Theo and asking if it was okay, and Theo nodded. 

‘Yeah, drinks are in there, we probably have a bottle of Coca Cola or something, and glasses are in here.’ He gestured towards one of the smaller cupboards above their heads, over the sink. 

‘Okay,’ Liam replied quietly, opening the refrigerator and pulling it open, getting out the bottle of Cola that Theo was talking about, before reaching out and getting two glasses out of the cupboard. When he put everything on the kitchen counter and turned back around, though, his eyes widened as he saw what Theo was doing then. ‘Wow! You guys have a mini popcorn machine here!?’ 

Chuckling, Theo turned around. ‘Yup. Pretty cool, huh?’ 

‘Definitely,’ Liam nodded, grinning, and Theo smiled. Liam waited until Theo was done making the popcorn, before he grabbed the bottle of Cola and the glasses, and they headed back to the hallway to go upstairs again. Neither of them expected there to be someone in the living room, which could be seen from the little space between the kitchen and the hallway that lead to the living room as well, but they were startled to see the guy who had to be Theo’s dad, who must’ve come home only just, walking up to them. 

‘Dad,’ Theo said, surprised and confirming Liam’s assumptions, but when he looked at Theo, he saw something else there too. Something uneasy. It put Liam on edge, wondering if there was something going on, and he swallowed. 

‘What are you doing here?’ Theo asked. 

‘I got home from work early,’ his father said, a bit stiff, and Liam looked from Theo to the man in his suit and back again. It felt a bit tense, and Liam hated that. It made him wish that he wasn’t here, right now. 

‘Uhm, we were free,’ Theo started, hurriedly. ‘I mean, clearly. So we went to watch movies.’ 

‘We?’ his dad asked, and Liam could feel his cheeks heating up, growing bright red, before Theo cleared his throat and the man looked towards him. 

‘Yeah, uh, dad, this is Liam,’ Theo started. ‘My, uh…’ 

‘Soulmate,’ his dad finished his sentence when Theo didn’t, turning to Liam with a smile on his face and held out his hand. ‘Hi, Liam was it, right? I’m Jonathan.’ 

‘Hello,’ Liam replied, forcing himself to smile which went a lot easier than he thought. The man was suddenly a lot warmer towards him than he expected. 

‘So have you guys known long?’ Jonathan asked, looking towards Theo as he took a step to the door of the hallway. 

‘Just a little while,’ he responded. ‘Dad, is it actually alright if we go back upstairs? The movie, you know…’ 

Liam could swear that he saw Jonathan’s face fall a bit, and he didn’t really know why Theo reacted like this, but he suddenly felt a bit bad, the slight feeling of guilt settling in his chest even though it wasn’t really his to feel. 

‘Yeah,’ Jonathan said then though, forcing a smile. ‘Yeah, sure, you guys have fun.’ 

Theo nodded shortly and opened the door, walking up the stairs without waiting for Liam, without telling him to follow him. Liam did anyway, hurriedly, and with a frown on his face he stared at Theo’s back, that suddenly seemed tense. He wanted to know, he wanted to know what that was so bad, but he didn’t dare ask. It was clearly a sore spot for Theo, and though it made Liam feel uneasy and tense, like he was intruding, he didn’t comment on it. He swallowed. 

Silently, Theo pushed the door open as they’d reached his bedroom and put the popcorn bowl down on the nightstand before he settled on the bed again. Liam followed his lead, putting the bottle and the glasses down, and sat down next to him. 

Nervously, he looked over at Theo. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked quietly, his voice barely more than a whisper. He only hesitated for a moment, but then he swallowed and nervously placed his hand on top of Theo’s. 

Theo looked up at that. ‘Let’s just continue the movie, okay?’ he managed, trying to force a smile even though he failed, and his voice cracked a bit. 

Liam looked at him worriedly, staying still for a moment, before he agreed. ‘Yeah. Yeah, of course, if that’s what you want.’ 

‘It is,’ Theo replied, now with just a little smile on his face, the corners of his mouth lifted up just slightly. ‘Thanks Liam.’ 

Liam’s heart skipped a beat at that, at Theo’s thank you and the way he said his name and how complete thankfulness just sounded through his voice, and he nodded, settling against the wall again. ‘Okay, come on then,’ he said, leaning forward and reaching out to press play on Theo’s laptop. 

Theo smiled softly, turning his attention towards the screen, and as they kept watching Liam put the bowl with the popcorn in between them so they could both reach it and didn’t have to ask for it all the time. The bowl went more and more empty as the movie continued, their hands brushing against each other as they reached for it sometimes, and they only had a drink in their free hands as their other hand touched each other a little more closely. And as the last few scenes of the film came around, their hands lay on top of each other on top of the blankets, just holding each other softly. 

Liam didn’t know how it happened, it just did, but he knew that he liked it more than he probably should. A lot more.


	7. Chapter 7

‘Come on!’ Theo said as soon as their second movie had ended, sounding a lot more excited again already than when they’d bumped into his father. ‘I want to show you something!’

‘What?’ Liam exclaimed, chuckling, as Theo jumped up from the bed. He grinned. ‘Come on,’ he said softly after he’d closed his laptop and walked over to the window.

It had gone dark outside in the meantime, as they were watching their movie, and Liam walked over to where Theo was standing by the window to look outside. The sky was black, but despite that it was a clear night without too many clouds, and Liam looked up in wonder at all the sparkling stars and the bright moon outside. You certainly had a great view from here, he thought.

Next to him, Theo interrupted his thoughts then as he opened the doors that lead to the small balcony outside of his room, and Liam looked over at him. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Come on,’ Theo said softly, gesturing for Liam to follow him as he stepped outside. ‘You’ll like this.’

Liam followed his lead, something that came all too naturally to him all of a sudden, and stepped out onto the balcony. The view was even greater there, thousands of stars sparkling above their heads in the dark sky, and there was only just a slight breeze blowing over his arms and through his hair, not nearly enough to make it cold.

Theo couldn’t tear his eyes away from Liam then, not when he saw the way the moonlight seemed to make Liam’s eyes extra blue, almost like they were glowing, and how the peaceful silence around them that was only interrupted by crickets, brought a calm feeling with them. Theo couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this calm and at peace.

‘So…’ Liam cleared his throat. ‘Was this what you wanted to show me?’ he asked shyly. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘Yeah, come on,’ he said quietly, stepping past Liam to the rooftop next to his balcony, that was low enough to climb on top of it. He put his hands on top of it, pushing himself up until he could put his legs on it too, and climb on it entirely. Then, he turned around, and looked down at Liam on the balcony.

‘I’m not sure I can do that,’ Liam laughed nervously, looking up at him. ‘I’m no captain of the football team, like you.’

‘I’ll help you,’ Theo said, holding out his hand. ‘Do you trust me?’

Liam swallowed, looking up at the other boy with wide eyes, and thought that: _Yeah, I do. I do trust him._

He smiled, grabbing Theo’s hand and holding on tight, his heart racing at the touch, and as Theo pulled him up Liam did what he said and put his foot against the wall for an extra step before he put his hands on the roof and climbed on top of it. It was a bit high, but as he looked around, that wasn’t his main focus.

‘Wow,’ he breathed out, at the sight before him. You could definitely see pretty far up here, to the rest of the houses in the street across from Theo’s, and their colorful, big front yards. The street itself was as good as abandoned, and the moonlight shining all over the big houses and lighting them up definitely made a pretty picture.

‘Glad you like it,’ Theo chuckled, sitting down and patting the spot beside him. ‘Come on, you can sit here.’

Liam smiled, doing as Theo said, and as he sat down beside him, their hands brushed together. For a moment, they stayed silent, just staring ahead, but Liam didn’t mind when Theo moved his hand to place on top of his.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said then, looking over at Liam with a serious look on his face. ‘About earlier, with my dad, I mean. I’m sorry.’

Liam looked back at him. ‘That’s okay,’ he said well-meant. ‘But can I… Can I ask what happened?’

Theo smiled slightly, nodding. ‘Sure,’ he said, letting out a sigh before staring down at his lap. ‘My dad… My dad and I usually have some trouble getting along. He’s not the most easy man, hard to please sometimes. He’s got all these ideas for me for what I should do in my future, I feel like he’s got everything planned out. Like… he wants me to go to college, where I can play for a good football team, and after that he wants me to come and work for him. In his company, I mean. He works in a high position at a marketing agency, and he wants me to do it too. But… I feel like sometimes he regrets not having done more when he was younger, and now it’s like he wants to fix his mistakes, and his regrets through me. And… That gives me a lot of pressure. But… It’s not what I want, and I don’t know how to say that to him, because I don’t want to disappoint him and make things even worse, you know?’

Liam stayed silent, looking over at Theo with his hair blowing a little in the wind, and he took a deep breath.

‘My dad’s planning this for a long time, and at first I thought I was okay with it. But it’s not what I want. I know he just wants good things for me, but my dad’s hard to say no to. I’ve found things I enjoy and I want to do, but I don’t know how to make that clear to him. I know he would never approve.’

Liam nodded, understandingly, even though he was sorry to hear these things, and Theo took that as a sign that he could continue.

‘It’s not… always bad,’ he said, not looking at Liam before he let out a bitter chuckle. ‘Well… I mean there’s these office parties at my dad’s company sometimes. It’s always very formal, for business you know, and me, Tara and my mom are always expected to come along. Tara and I are supposed to put on these nice clothes and act nice at the company, so dad can impress the people he works with. Then at home, they’re not there very often. Mom and dad are usually busy with work and Tara and I can take care of ourselves. We see them at breakfast, but they normally come home late. They’re not really there often. But Tara and I have to be.’

Liam remained silent for a moment, just bravely reaching over and taking Theo’s hand in his, staring ahead. He turned to the other boy then, swallowing, because honestly he’d never, ever even thought of Theo having something in his life that was hard to deal with. To him, Theo had always seemed perfect, the perfect life, the perfect family, the perfect friends. The perfect everything. He still wasn’t surprised to be wrong though. He’d judged too quickly, and of course, everyone had hard things to deal with in their life sometimes.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘To hear that. Those… parties, don’t sound nice at all.’

Theo let out a bitter chuckle, and he shook his head. ‘They’re not.’

Liam sighed softly, shifting a bit so he was turned towards Theo completely, and held his hand. ‘What do you want to do?’ he asked.

‘What?’ Theo asked, a little confused.

‘Uhm…’ Liam blushed, in the moonlight. ‘You kept talking about what your dad wanted, for you. But what do you want?’

‘I want to draw,’ Theo said, almost automatically. He didn’t have to think about that for very long, he’d know for a long time after all.

Liam didn’t say anything, waiting for Theo to go on, and Theo laughed. ‘Art’s my favorite subject at school too, I’ve wanted to do something with that for as long as I can remember.’ He wondered why he was telling Liam this, and so easily too, when he hadn’t even told his parents and his sister about this. But then, he knew, it was easy. Things were easy with Liam, so easy, and Theo wanted to tell him all about himself. He didn’t want to hide anything from him.

Liam giggled then and Theo looked at him curiously. Liam blushed. ‘You surprise me, Theo,’ he said.

‘Hey!’ Theo exclaimed in feigned offense, giving Liam a push against his shoulder until he couldn’t hold back his laughter. ‘N-No, I’m serious,’ Liam continued, when the worst laughter had faded and he could talk again. ‘I never thought that that would be something you liked. But I like it. I think it suits you.’

‘Yeah?’ Theo asked, blushing.

‘Yeah,’ Liam replied, moving around a bit until he sat next to Theo again, facing the abandoned street before him. He looked towards Theo. ‘You know, what you want matters too,’ he said quietly. ‘I know it’s important what your dad thinks, but… In the end it’s your life. It’s good that you think about your dad, but you gotta make this decision. It’s for your future, and you should do what makes you happy.’

Theo sniffled, wiping a tear out of his eye with his thumb, and he looked down at Liam with a small smile on his face. ‘You’re really amazing, you know that?’ The words leaving his mouth and letting him know how true they were. He was just too stupid to ever see it.

Liam coughed a little at that, looking ahead again. ‘I don’t know…’ he mumbled and Theo hated that he was insecure about this, because he thought he was.

‘You know,’ he said shyly then, because he’d never even thought about showing them to anyone, it had always been his little secret. ‘I have some of my drawings in my room, I can show them to you if you like?’

Liam smiled. ‘Yeah. But… Later?’ He sounded a little unsure, as if he was scared that he’d offended Theo, but Theo just nodded. ‘Sure,’ he smiled. ‘Whenever you want.’

He wasn’t scared about showing the drawings to Liam, like he was with his family. He hadn’t shown those to his friends, or told them about his father, the only one who knew something was Corey. But everything with Liam was just so… easy, like he could trust him with things he wouldn’t let other people know already, and Theo felt relieved at that.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Liam turned back to Theo again. ‘Can I tell you something?’ he asked, his voice sounding a bit wobbly, and when Theo looked over at him, he understood why.

Liam’s eyes were slightly wet with small tears gathering in them, and Theo’s heart hurt at the sight. ‘Yeah?’ he said quietly.

‘I’m scared,’ Liam sniffled, getting the words out right away. ‘Scared that this… This won’t work out, scared that you’ll hurt me. I’m sorry…’

Theo swallowed, his own tears starting to sting in his eyes, and made it hard for him to breathe. He’d done this, he thought. He’d made Liam feel like that by not standing up his friends when they treated him in a way he didn’t deserve…

‘I’m just scared of getting hurt,’ Liam continued, avoiding Theo’s gaze as he sounded a bit hard to understand from the tears. ‘For more reasons than that. My…’ He took a deep breath. ‘My dad died when I was young, a year or four old. He was… My mom’s soulmate.’

Theo’s jaw dropped in shock. He wasn’t expecting that.

Liam sniffled, letting out a sob. ‘I don’t remember much of it, of him, I was too young. But I do remember how much it hurt my mom, I saw in how much pain she was. It took her months to recover, and it was painful to watch,’ Liam cried, and Theo felt a sharp, painful feeling in his chest. He shuffled closer to Liam, wanting to comfort him.

‘But then, she… She started being happier again and she met David, my… My stepdad,’ Liam clarified with a sniffle. ‘His… His soulmate had died too,’ he mumbled, and Theo stared at Liam in shock. How could so many hurtful things have happened to him?

‘And… I saw they started being happier together,’ Liam mumbled. ‘How he made her happy. Despite the fact that they weren’t soulmates. But they made it work, together, outside of that system.’

He looked up at Theo, with a pained expression on his face and tears still shining in his eyes.

‘I don’t want that happening to me,’ he confessed with difficulty. ‘I don’t want something happening to my soulmate, to you, or something that could break us up.’ He sniffled, letting out another sob. ‘I don’t wanna get hurt. I’m scared of getting hurt… After seeing what it did to my mom.’

Theo remained silent, instead just telling himself to be brave and pulling Liam closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to comfort him. He thought he’d done this, he thought he’d made Liam scared by treating him the way he used to and not standing up to his friends when they did it, and in some ways he had of course. But it run deeper than that, he saw that clearly now. This was about something more than just him. Liam was already scared, and being soulmates with him, the guy who never helped him and intimidated him, didn’t make it any better.

It made Theo almost feel sick to his stomach with guilt. He hated seeing Liam like this, whether it was his fault or not. He swallowed.

‘Come on,’ he muttered, shuffling closer to Liam and only hesitating for a moment at the unfamiliar gesture, before wrapping his arms around him. ‘I’m here. It’s okay, I promise it’s okay.’

Liam leaned against him, his head resting against Theo’s chest, and Theo softly rubbed his shoulders. Liam sobbed quietly, the sniffling fading away slowly, and he looked up at Theo with wet cheeks.

‘Liam, I’m sorry,’ he started, even though he already said something similar. He could say it again. ‘I’m so sorry to hear that that happened to you. And I’m sorry for what happened every time when Brett made fun of you and I never said a word, that I’d never said anything and didn’t stand up to them. You didn’t deserve that.’

Liam brushed through his eyes with his hand. ‘Is okay,’ he mumbled, looking down, but Theo shook his head. ‘No, it’s not,’ he said. ‘It was shitty, and I’m sorry.’

Liam looked up at him in wonder, seeming to believe him and be glad about the apology, and in one brave moment, Theo reached up and wiped off the last of his tears. Liam smiled. ‘Thanks. I’m sorry about… I didn’t mean to…’

‘Hey, no,’ Theo interrupted him, sounding soft but firm. ‘Don’t even worry about that. It’s okay, absolutely okay. Just know that I’m here when you need it, okay?’

Liam smiled, nodding. ‘Same here,’ he replied honestly, while placing his hand on top of Theo’s, brushing his thumb over the back of Theo’s hand softly. Theo looked up at him with a smile, swallowing, and leaning forward just a little bit. Liam looked up at him in wonder, his big blue eyes sparkling in anticipation, and Theo was sure he couldn’t hold it in anymore then.

‘Can I kiss you?’ he asked softly, nervously, his fear of rejection still getting the best of him.

Liam swallowed, seeming nervous, and he let out a shaky breath. ‘I could be bad at it,’ he whispered, but Theo just shook his head. ‘That’s not possible,’ he whispered back with a soft chuckle, nervously, and waited until Liam let him know that it was absolutely okay before he rested his hands on either side of Liam’s face. He leaned forward slowly then, and pressed his lips against Liam’s softly.

Liam’s lips were soft, against his, and Theo thought he couldn’t have imagined the feeling that it gave him even if he’d thought about it a thousand times, the way the butterflies fluttered in his stomach wildly. When he pulled back, his and Liam’s eyes fluttered open again at the same time and Liam looked up at him in such wonder that Theo swallowed, Liam looked just as totally and completely happy as he felt.

‘Was that, something we can do…?’ he started a bit nervous, but didn’t have to finish his sentence for Theo to know what meant.

‘Again?’ Theo finished his sentence. ‘Oh, definitely.’

‘Okay,’ Liam breathed out, a wide smile on his face that made Theo’s stomach flutter, and he leaned against Theo then. Theo smiled, taking a quick look at Liam beside him, before wrapping an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulling him closer. Liam rested his head on Theo’s shoulder silently then, not saying anything, and it was quiet around them, the only sound coming from the crickets, as they sat next to each other and looked at the stars. Theo smiled, completely at peace like that, and it felt like a while before Liam spoke up again.

‘I really would like to see those drawings of yours now.’

Theo grinned, as Liam’s voice was so relaxed it even sounded a bit sleepy, and he brushed his shoulder. ‘Okay,’ he said quietly. ‘Come on.’

Liam nodded, and after Theo had helped him down from the roof, they stepped back inside his bedroom. Theo noticed that he was shaking a little, as he had never shown these to anyone, but he told himself that he could trust Liam. He knew he could, the boy was sweet like no one else.

‘They’re in here,’ he said a little shakily, pulling open a drawer from his desk and taking out two or three drawings. The rose, that he had drawn last the day he found Liam was his soulmate was there too, and though it still looked nice, the memory of how he’d reacted when he found left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Liam came to stand next to him then, looking down at the drawings that were spread out on his desk, and brushed his fingers over them softly. ‘These are amazing, Theo!’ he said as he looked up, his eyes wide as if he hadn’t expected that.

Theo snorted. ‘There’s no need to sound so surprised.’

‘Sorry, sorry!’ Liam laughed, before turning serious again. ‘I mean it though, these are really great. You should definitely do something with that.’

The smile faded from Theo’s face and he sighed, looking down. ‘I don’t know…’

‘Do you know where you’re gonna go after high school?’ Liam asked.

Theo looked up. ‘No,’ he sighed, honestly. ‘Probably what my dad wants. But… I’m conflicted.’

‘Look,’ Liam sighed, stepping closer to him and taking his hand, making Theo’s heart skip a beat. ‘I told you, you should do what you want. It’s your future. And… these drawings really look amazing. I think you could do it.’

Theo smiled sadly, looking away from Liam’s determined blue eyes and letting out a soft breath. ‘Maybe,’ he said. ‘You don’t know my dad. But… I’ll try.’

Liam squeezed his hand softly, only hesitating for a moment before he leaned forward and pressed a kiss on Theo’s cheek. ‘You don’t have to do it now,’ he said. ‘You’ve got time,’ and Theo looked up. Liam had a soft look in his eyes, one that said he understood, and Theo felt a bit more relieved. Maybe if Liam thought he could, he really could do it. He was just glad that Liam didn’t pressure him.

‘Thanks,’ he said and took another look at the drawings before he checked the time on his phone. ‘It’s getting late though,’ he said. ‘I should… Probably go home.’

Theo nodded, when a thought hit him. ‘You know,’ he said. ‘You can have one of them, if you like them.’

Liam’s head shot up, a smile on his face. ‘Do you mean it?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ Theo replied, as he picked up the drawing with the rose and hesitated a bit. ‘I, eh, drew this one the day we found out we were soulmates. I, uh, was a bit upset, as you can probably remember, and needed to let it out. So I completely understand if you don’t want it…’

‘Theo,’ Liam interrupted him. ‘I love it. It looks great. And… I didn’t react so well myself either.’

Theo let out a soft breath of relief, and he handed Liam the drawing. ‘Okay then. Well, I’m glad you like it.’

Liam smiled, holding up the drawing so he could get a good look at it. ‘Let’s just… Have this as a reminder for things that are no more, okay?’ And with a twinkle in his eye, he looked over at Theo.

Theo could feel his heart warming, and a smile growing on his face. ‘Yeah,’ he said simply, quietly, before remembering what Liam had said earlier. ‘And now you have to go, because like you said, it is getting late!’

Liam chuckled as they walked towards the bedroom door, and Theo could hear him mumbling: ‘I see you want me gone then,’ under his breath as a joke.

He smiled, as they walked down the stairs together. They walked through the hallway, not going back to the living room, and stopped by the front door.

‘Will I see you on Monday?’ Liam asked, seeming a bit nervous, though Theo hesitated and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He couldn’t say yet, he had no idea what Monday was gonna bring. But as he looked at Liam, he saw that he was nervous for what’d happen after the weekend too. ‘What’s gonna happen on Monday?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied honestly, swallowing. ‘But yes, we’ll see each other,’ he said, watching as the words lit up Liam’s eyes, obviously making him happy.

‘Okay,’ he smiled, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack and turning towards the door. He pulled the door open then, and still reached up to press a quick kiss against Theo’s cheek before he stepped outside. ‘Bye,’ he smiled, and Theo gave him a short nod, before Liam closed the door behind him and he was gone.

Theo stared at the front door then, the smile fading from his face. It was true though, he had no idea what Monday was gonna bring, or what was gonna happen. And even though the felt guilty settled in his stomach already, he would just have to wait and see and hope for the best. Hope that he was able to see Liam on Monday.

*****

‘Theo?’ his dad asked, coming into the living room as he was sitting on the couch with a book. ‘Can we talk for a moment?’

Theo looked up, dreading it a bit but also wanting to know what his dad wanted to talk about, and he nodded. ‘Sure.’

His dad nodded, seeming a little bit nervous as he took a seat on the other couch, and looked at his son with his hands folded in his lap. ‘I just… Wanted you to know that it was nice meeting Liam,’ he said. ‘He’s a nice boy. But… I couldn’t help but wonder if you would’ve let him met me by bringing him here, to dinner or something. Not by accident, I mean.’

Theo stayed silent at that, because he kinda knew the answer to that already. He knew that his father might not react the best way at the fact that his soulmate was a boy, he was difficult and Theo was scared how his family and other people would react if they found out. So he hadn’t risked it.

‘Because… I want you to know that I don’t mind who your soulmate is,’ his dad said then. ‘Boy or girl, I don’t mind.’

Theo looked up at that in shock, staring at his dad with his jaw dropped. ‘Wait, you don’t?’ he asked in shock. All this time, he’d been so afraid of what his family would say, especially his dad, that he hadn’t expected his. ‘No,’ his father said. ‘How could I mind who your partner is when we have a system that literally picks the best match for everyone? You’d think that would make people more accepting. And I, eh, already kinda figured that your soulmate might be a boy, with the way you always avoided our questions about when you would find her. But it’s a him. So no, I don’t mind, as long as you’re happy.’

Theo nodded slowly, a feeling of enormous relief washing over him. He’d never even thought of it that way. All this time, the thought of telling his family had made him so nervous, almost making him feel sick to his stomach, that he would rather not do that. But he was happy, with Liam, he thought.

And the thought of them finding out on their own, and then responding with the reason why the system worked the way that it did, didn’t cross his mind, but it took away a big part of his pressure, and he felt so relieved. ‘Well,’ his father said then, interrupting his thoughts, before he stood up. ‘I gotta get back upstairs. Work to do.’

Theo nodded, looking up at his dad when he walked past him. He gave him one last smile before he walked out of the room and Theo gave him a short nod, almost unable to hold back his grin. Then his dad closed the door behind him and a wide smile formed on Theo’s face. He hadn’t expected his dad to react like this at all, he’d been the most nervous about his reaction and he had imagined how difficult it would be to tell him, but for him to react like this so unexpectedly made him feel undeniably happy and relieved. That was already one person that knew who his soulmate was, now the rest had too, and Theo could only hope that they would be a little easier to tell. Though he knew it would still be hard.

With a smile on his face, he went back to his reading, and leaned against the back of the couch relaxed. The rest of the evening passed a little happier for him as he read, feeling a little lighter, as he thought about spending his time with Liam and his little conversation with his dad with a smile on his face, and he stayed on the couch until he had finished his chapter. His dad was already one person that knew now, now the rest of them had to know too, and even though his friends wouldn’t mind that his soulmate was a boy, they would mind that that boy was Liam. Theo knew that telling them wasn’t gonna be easy, but he was gonna try. He was really going to try.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't have all the happy times without a little angst :) Enjoy!

‘What are we gonna do today, Theo?’ Liam asked as they’d arrived at school together, after Theo had offered to pick him up and gave him a ride to the school. ‘Will I still see you at lunch?’

Theo smiled. ‘I’ll try,’ he replied honestly, fidgeting nervously and looking around if anybody saw them. He couldn’t really say yet how his day and his lunchbreak was gonna turn out, it was too early for that, but he meant it. He really was going to try. With a smile, he looked at Liam. ‘Like we said over the phone, right?’ he asked, and Liam nodded. 

Over the weekend, he and Liam had texted a lot and Liam had let him know that he had grown more nervous as Monday came closer. He was a little worried about what Theo’s friends would say if they found out about them, just like Theo was, and they’d agreed to keep it down for a little bit. 

‘Look, I gotta go,’ Theo said then, shooting a look towards the school where he saw his friends already. ‘But… We’ll text today, yeah?’ 

Liam nodded and Theo gave him a quick kiss on the lips before they said goodbye, and he strolled towards the entrance. As he did though, he didn’t see the way that the smile faded from Liam’s face, and how he stared after Theo wistfully as he still stood by the car. He sighed then, swung his bag over his back, and started towards the entrance as well. 

***** 

‘Hey Liam!’ Mason greeted him cheerfully as Liam fell down in the seat across from him. ‘What’s up?’ 

‘Oh,’ Liam mumbled, letting out a heavy sigh as he pushed his lunch back and forth over his plate and risked a glance at Theo’s table, in the middle of the cafeteria. 

Mason’s smile faded from his face then and he followed Liam’s gaze, a worried look on his face. ‘Is he still doing that during the day?’ 

Liam shrugged, giving up on his lunch and looking up. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t really know what I expected. But…’ 

‘It wasn’t this?’ Mason asked, sympathetically. 

Liam shook his head, staring down at his tray. 

‘Damn it!’ Corey, who had started sitting with them during lunch now, said. ‘I should’ve warned him to be careful about this.’ 

‘No, Corey, it’s…’ Liam sighed, forcing a smile. ‘It’s fine,’ he mumbled, even though he still the sting of the words in his heart. He wanted to see Theo, hoped for it even, but maybe he should’ve expected this. Still, he wondered, everything that he and Theo talked about, had he forgotten it already? Or did it simply not mean anything? And what about when Theo asked if Liam trusted him, where was that now? Liam couldn’t stop the hurt feeling from settling in his chest and he swallowed. 

‘Are you sure?’ Corey asked, looking at him worriedly, as if he was searching for something that told him that it wasn’t. 

‘Yeah,’ Liam managed, only to shoot another look in Theo’s direction. He was startled though, when Theo suddenly looked around and caught his eyes. Quickly, with an blush from embarrassment forming on his cheeks, Liam looked down and focused on his lunch again. 

Theo, who had caught Liam looking at him from across the cafeteria, swallowed. He could feel the guilt settling in again and secretly, he suddenly wanted nothing more than to get up and sit with him, but the thought of the questions that it would raise from his friends wouldn’t let him leave. He let out a shaky breath, biting his lip when he saw Corey looking at him angrily, and avoided his gaze. He jumped though, when his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud voice. 

‘Hey, T, what the hell is going on inside your head?’ Brett called. ‘You’ve been so distracted today, it’s depressing.’ 

Theo looked up, forcing a small smile. ‘Just… Thinking, you know? A bit stressed,’ he said, forcing a chuckle that sounded hollow even in his ears. 

‘Yeah,’ Brett nodded slowly, chuckling. ‘Yeah, I can see that. Wanna talk about it?’ ‘Okay,’ he said, not paying any attention to it anymore as he went back to his lunch and continued his story with a loud voice that got him the most attention out of everyone at the table, like usual. 

Theo looked around the table, his eyes catching Kira’s, who gave him a small smile almost as if she knew, and nodded towards the table where she was holding Lori’s hand. Theo swallowed, the thought that someone knew scared him, although he appreciated the gesture. He shook his head though, and forced himself to smile and laugh and be a part of the conversation, to act like nothing was wrong. All with a guilty feeling in his chest and a bitter taste in his mouth. 

***** 

‘Hi!’ a voice interrupted them, and when Liam looked up, he saw Kira and Lori standing by their table with their trays in their hands. ‘Is it okay if we sit here today?’ 

Liam sputtered a bit at that, not having expected that, and he coughed as he swallowed his drink, but Mason ignored him. ‘Sure,’ he smiled, gesturing to two free spots on the other side of the table where they could sit. 

Kira smiled and put her tray down, before sitting down. Liam looked at her with a frown, following her with his eyes suspiciously and wondering what a girl from the popular group was doing at what was basically the ‘reject table.’ 

‘Hey Corey,’ Lori greeted him with a smile before she put her tray down and sat down next to her girlfriend. 

‘Oh, I hope you don’t mind this, Liam,’ Lori said then. ‘But it’s nice for a change, right?’ 

Liam nodded slowly, starting to think that she really meant it, and he shot a look at Theo’s table. Kira caught him, and said: ‘Don’t worry, if they come here and start asking questions, we can handle them. And… Theo’s just a bit slow, I’m sorry about that. But he’ll figure it out.’ 

Liam sputtered at that. ‘Y-You know?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Kira laughed. ‘I mean, it’s not hard to see how he started looking at you. I’m surprised Brett hasn’t figured it out yet. But then, he isn’t the most observant one at that table. No offense,’ she said to Lori. 

She grinned. ‘None taken.’ 

Liam was shocked, but Mason chuckled. ‘I told you it’d work out, right?’ he said. ‘And until then, well, this is fun, right?’ 

Liam nodded, and Corey, who was sitting on Mason’s other side, spoke up. ‘Exactly! This is fun. And fuck those stereo types anyway. Why not just be friends with whoever we want?’ 

‘Our thought exactly,’ Lori responded, and suddenly, it made sense to Liam why they were sitting here. They wanted to get rid of stereo types too, wanted to show that it didn’t matter who you were friends with as long as you got along, no matter who they were. And maybe they wanted to tempt Theo into coming and sitting here too, to show him that it was okay to do so. 

It made Liam smile. 

‘So, Liam, you like history, right?’ Lori asked then, as they began their lunch. 

Liam nodded, a smile forming on his face as he started to answer, and as they began their conversation Liam could feel the dark cloud that had been hovering over him these past two days because of Theo’s unresponsiveness starting to fade. Instead he just smiled, as it turned out that Kira and Lori were extremely easy to get along with. And as the conversation at their table came to life and Corey and Mason joined in too, a happier feeling washed over him and all his troubles were forgotten for a moment. For now, he was just happy. 

***** 

From across the cafeteria, Theo stared at Liam. He was laughing and smiling, looking more beautiful than ever, and Theo noticed the bright sparkle in his eyes as he laughed at a joke Mason told, making the butterflies in Theo’s stomach flutter wild. He noticed Liam’s bright, almost blinding smile as he laughed with his friends, and how it made Theo’s heart race. 

He and Liam had texted a little bit today, but Liam’s reactions to his texts had been less than enthusiastic. Theo wasn’t sure if he could blame him. He saw Kira and Lori sitting at the other table too, and he didn’t have to think hard why. It was their way of inviting him over, of letting him know that it was okay if he wanted to sit there too. He knew that they knew, about Liam, and that they thought he was really nice. But while he appreciated the gesture, he wasn’t sure if he was gonna take up on their offer. 

Not when he saw Brett falling down on the chair beside him from the corner of his eye, and looking towards the other table as well. ‘Why are they sitting there?’ he asked, sounding a bit bored. ‘With them? When they know they could sit here too?’ 

Theo swallowed, tearing his eyes away from Liam, and shrugged. ‘I don’t know,’ he managed, before: ‘Well, Corey and Mason are soulmates, aren’t they?’ to see his reaction. 

‘Yeah,’ Brett chuckled, taking a bite from his apple. ‘And I’m happy for him, don’t get me wrong. But Mason Hewitt? Really? Still, I suppose it could be worse.’ 

Theo swallowed, feeling on edge next to his friend. He knew exactly who Brett was talking about, and that didn’t make the task of telling him the truth any easier. 

‘Still doesn’t explain why they’re sitting there,’ Brett said then, nodding at Kira and his sister. ‘It’s kinda labeled as the ‘reject table’, isn’t it?’ 

‘Ugh, well I know,’ Malia muttered, as she leaned back and put her feet up on a nearby chair. ‘They’re just trying to be interesting.’ 

Theo bit his lip, looking up as Josh let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Come on,’ he said, shuffling closer to Brett and talking to probably both him and Malia. ‘Don’t be a dick. Everyone can sit where they want.’ 

‘I suppose,’ Brett mumbled, but Malia just huffed. ‘Well, I don’t care,’ she said, getting her phone out and focusing on that. 

‘And I don’t get why we’re even still having this conversation,’ Lydia spoke up then. ‘I’m sure Liam and Mason are very nice, but if everyone is done with being so difficult and interfering with other people’s business, maybe we can talk about something more interesting? Like what we’re doing tonight?’ 

Theo shot her a thankful look, that he wasn’t even sure she saw, but it was Lydia so if she did, he was sure she knew that it was for her interrupting Brett. She’d always been one of the most terrifyingly intelligent people he knew. 

‘Right, now that, I find interesting,’ Malia said, putting her phone away again and turning towards her girlfriend with a smile on her face. ‘We could go to that new club in town, you know, dancing?’ 

‘Yeah, yeah, or…’ Brett started, excitedly starting off about other plans and things they could do for tonight. Theo grinned, focusing on the messy and loud discussion that was happening in front of him, where everyone was shouting over each other to get their point across and make the others listen to their ideas, even though it didn’t really matter to him and he stayed silent. All while he listened to his friends, laughing, and felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. 

***** 

On the third day, Liam couldn’t take it anymore. He and Theo had gone all day without talking, as Theo had only been texting him a couple times during the day, but Liam hadn’t responded to any of them. It hurt too much, thinking that things had changed between them and that everything was going better, only to find out that Theo still kept him as his dirty little secret. 

He felt like he should’ve expected that from the most popular kid in school though, he thought, as he waited by Theo’s car that afternoon with wet eyes. 

He had to wait a while, but when he eventually saw Theo saying goodbye to his friends and finally making his way to his car, Liam felt his heart skip a beat, a nauseating feeling settling in his stomach, and he swallowed. With a smile, Theo walked towards his car, ready to just get in and leave, but when he saw the boy standing by his car, he stopped dead in his tracks. ‘Liam…’ 

Liam nodded, a sharp pang in his chest that hurt as he heard how surprised Theo sounded. ‘Yeah,’ he mumbled. ‘Surprised you still recognize me.’ 

He knew it was a low blow, but he had to say it. 

Theo sighed, putting his bag down on the ground. ‘Look, Liam, it’s not about that,’ he started. ‘I’m sorry if…’ 

‘No!’ Liam interrupted him, looking up and surprising even himself with how firm he sounded. The tears stung in his eyes. ‘No, I don’t want to listen to any excuses. There’s a reason you don’t talk to me at school, you know? I know that you’re ashamed of me!’ 

Theo stayed silent, Liam’s voice still ringing in his ears, and the truth, that was clear to see now, hanging heavy in the air between them. 

Liam opened his mouth then. ‘I thought it was going better,’ he whispered, tears now flowing freely down his cheeks. 

Theo stared at him with his jaw dropped, at the most beautiful boy before him, who was now crying because of him, because he had been so stupid. And as he watched the tears stream down the face of the boy he was, dare he say it at least to himself, in love with, he was sure that he felt his heart break a little. And the worst part of it all, was that he couldn’t deny any of it. Liam had pointed out exactly what was wrong, and excuses were only gonna make it worse. 

Liam sniffled, letting out a hollow chuckle that just made it more clear to Theo that he was hurting. He winced. ‘You know, when you asked if I trusted you, I did,’ Liam cried. ‘But… This was exactly what I was afraid of…’ 

The words left a hurt and stinging feeling in Theo’s chest, and he shook his head with wet eyes. 

‘Are you not gonna say anything?’ Liam whimpered, his voice a bit hard to understand from the tears. ‘Okay. I don’t even want to do this with you if you’re gonna be ashamed of me. I’m sorry I’m me and not someone cooler, Theo.’ 

His words hit Theo hard, and he gasped. ‘No, that’s not…’ he started, finding his voice again and tears starting to gather in his own eyes. But Liam shook his head, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. When he opened them again and looked at Theo, the pained look on his face made it hard for Theo to breathe. He was sure that this was what heartbreak felt like. 

‘Isn’t it?’ Liam asked quietly, and Theo stayed silent, not knowing how to deny that when deep down he knew that it was the truth. 

Liam nodded shortly, biting his lip as a few tears slipped from his eyes and fell down his cheeks. He took a deep breath, and turned away. 

‘That’s what I thought,’ Liam mumbled. ‘Let me know when something’s changed,’ he said quietly, before he walked away. 

‘No, wait,’ Theo started, blinking back tears and staring at Liam’s back. But Liam didn’t listen. ‘Liam!’ Theo called after him, at this point not caring who heard him. But Liam ignored him, he just kept walking towards Mason’s car in the back of the parking lot, and Theo looked around nervously, his heart feeling it had been fucking broken. 

How could he have let his happen? How could he have let this go so far? The questions kept running through his head, haunting him, and he realized he was crying when the sound of his own sobs reached his ears. He realized then that he knew, though. It was exactly like Liam had said, the fact that they were from two different worlds scared him. He’d worried too much about what his friends, especially Brett, would say, and so he only texted Liam for three days straight, not talking to him otherwise. How could he have been so stupid, though? Liam had to agreed to just texting at first, but of course he would want something more, of course he would just want to be in a normal relationship with Theo and be able to talk to him at school, even if it made him nervous at first. Theo had just been too nervous himself to see that. And now, all he could do was try hard, and see if he could fix some things. Even though he had little hope for it. 

Someone interrupted his thoughts then, by pushing him against the shoulder. Theo turned around as a feeling of anger washed over him, ready to punch and take it out on whoever had bumped into him, when he saw the boy that was actually standing behind him, glaring at him more angrily than Theo had ever seen him before. 

‘What did you do!?’ Corey snapped. ‘What the hell did you do?’ 

‘I…’ Theo started, the simple word already making him feel nauseated and leaving a bitter taste in his mouth, and he swallowed hard. ‘I don’t…’ he mumbled, tears stinging in his eyes as he couldn’t seem to find the right words. 

‘Well, you better try and fix this. Damn it, I could’ve told you this was gonna happen!’ Corey interrupted him harshly, crossing his arms. ‘Do you know what you’re gonna do?’ 

Theo wanted to say that he did, but he really didn’t know, so he just shook his head, a pathetic noise escaping his mouth. Corey sighed. 

‘Well,’ he said. ‘I’ll gladly help you, but you have to think of something. This is your mistake to fix, not mine.’ 

Theo found himself glaring at his best friend, angry at him for his harsh words, but he also knew he was right. He had gone and messed it all up, hurt the most wonderful boy he knew, who was more special than any of his friends anyway, and he had to fix it. He already felt like something was missing from his life, something important, that was the best part of him. ‘Thanks Corey,’ Theo responded flatly. ‘Can you just leave me alone for a minute please?’ 

Corey hesitated, and Theo looked over at him with clenched fists. ‘Please?’ 

Corey sighed, but nodded then. ‘Let me know when you have a plan,’ he said, and Theo nodded. Despite the way that he’d been kind of an ass, his best friend was still determined to help him, and Theo appreciated that. 

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Corey said then, and after they’d said goodbye, he walked away. Theo watched as he walked towards Kira and Lori, starting to talk to them immediately, and Theo didn’t doubt that he was explaining the situation to them. He clenched his fists at the thought, his anger flaring up again, and he got in his car. There, he finally let out some of the frustration he was feeling, and slammed his hand against the steering wheel once, hard. Vaguely, he was aware of people outside jumping because of his sudden movement, but for once, he didn’t give a shit. There was only one thing on his mind, and that was Liam. The boy had said he trusted him, had said that he was scared of getting hurt like this, and then Theo had gone and messed it all up, and hurt Liam the exact way he told Theo he was scared of. All because he was too fucking scared himself. Knowing that hurt like a bitch, and he could only imagine how it must’ve hurt Liam. 

A loud sigh escaped Theo’s lips, and he buried his face in his hands. He’d messed up, badly, and he would lie if he said that he didn’t hate himself for it a little bit. He should’ve known that things would get worse than he’d expected, and he had no idea how to fix this again. Didn’t even know if he could. 

But this was Liam, and Theo had to try. He had to. 

So he steeled himself, wiping away his tears and telling himself to get it together, and gripped the steering wheel tightly. Determinedly, he stepped his foot on the gas, ready to go home and figure out a way to make things right, and with that thought, he speeded out of the parking lot.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a shorter part for today :)

Liam thought it was safe to say, that he was not alright.

During the ride home that Mason had given him he’d stared out of the window all the way there, silent tears slipping from his eyes every now and then. It had earned him concerned looks from Mason, his best friend sending him more than one worried look during the ride home, but Liam couldn’t help it. Not when his biggest fears suddenly came true, and came crashing down around him. He felt like he should’ve know. Should’ve known Theo would care more about who he was in high school, and how people saw him. He always had, after all. 

Now he was lying on his bed faced towards Mason and his mom sitting on the edge of his bed, his face half pressed into his pillow and tears drying in his eyes. His mom rubbed soft circles on his back. 

‘Sweetie,’ she asked softly, brushing his hair aside so she could look at him. ‘What happened? Do you want to tell me?’ 

Liam stayed silent, only barely seeing the way Mason shot her a concerned look. He shook his head. ‘It’s, uh, something that happened at school,’ he responded, purposely keeping it vague. ‘Jenna, would you mind giving us a minute?’ he asked. 

Jenna hesitated for a moment, looking towards Liam again, but then she nodded. Mason and Liam had known each other since they were children, if anyone could be there for Liam, it’d be Mason. 

With a soft sigh she stood up from the bed, pressing a kiss to Liam’s head and said quietly: ‘I’ll be downstairs, if you need anything. I’ll bring a cup of tea later.’ 

Mason nodded, thankful for that, and waited until she’d left and closed the door behind her, before he turned to Liam again. ‘Hey buddy,’ he started as Liam turned towards him, looking up at him with red eyes and wet cheeks, and Mason gave him a sad smile. He sighed softly at the sight of the pained look in Liam’s eyes, his anger flaring up a little again as thoughts of Theo popped into his head and he saw how Theo had done this to his best friend. 

‘Come on,’ he said softly, gripping Liam’s arm and helping him up. 

Liam sniffled then, staring down at his lap. ‘I just don’t understand what happened. Why he would do that… Why he wouldn’t talk to me for three days.’ 

‘Because he’s an asshole,’ Mason said simply, and Liam winced at the word as he, despite what’d happened, still didn’t agree with that. Mason shot him an apologetic look. 

‘I just… Don’t understand why he wouldn’t talk to me for three days,’ Liam whispered again then, looking up at Mason with fresh tears in his eyes. ‘I thought things were going so great between us, with us texting and getting along and getting to know each other. Everything was going better, we were getting along so great. And then…’ 

Liam sniffled, pausing to let out a shaky breath. ‘And then it was suddenly over again a bit, and he doesn’t want to talk to me at school. Like I don’t exist. He only texted!’ 

Liam wiped at his nose. ‘I… I told him I was scared of that, but he was so understanding, not like how I thought he was at first. But… I feel like I should’ve known he would care more about how people saw him…’ 

He let out a sob, and Mason swallowed. He hated seeing his best friend so heartbroken, couldn’t stop the sad feeling from washing over him. 

‘I just feel like I should’ve known this would happen,’ Liam sniffled, his voice a bit hard to understand through the tears. ‘I told him I was scared of this, and he still did it anyway! It still happened like this anyway!’ 

Mason stayed silent, unable to stand looking at his best friend so sad anymore, and simply opened his arms and offered him a hug, pulling him closer when Liam accepted it. 

‘I was right about him at the start, I should’ve known…’ Liam mumbled, his voice muffled as he had his face pressed against Mason’s shoulder. 

Mason let out a soft breath, a hurt feeling in his chest for his best friend. He knew Liam had always felt a bit intimidated by Theo, and when he found out they were soulmates he hoped that would go away. Mason had seen it as a chance for Liam to be happy, but to see him getting hurt in the exact way he was scared of, didn’t sit right with Mason. He couldn’t help but be angry at Theo for that, and feel a little let down at the same time. 

‘Liam?’ Mason asked then, leaning back a little so he could look at him. ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you. You don’t deserve that. But, you know, whatever happens you won’t have to go through it alone. Corey let me know that he’s there too, he texted me. He’s sorry he didn’t talk to Theo about this.’ 

Liam made a noise that Mason knew meant that Corey shouldn’t feel sorry about this, and he thought back on the text from Corey he’d gotten after school, with more explanation. ‘Corey texted me and said that Kira and Lori aren’t happy about this either. They let him know. We’re all here, Li.’ 

Liam sniffled, wiping his eyes, and looked up at Mason as he thought of the two new friends he’d made. He appreciated all of them, being there when it was needed. ‘Thanks,’ he mumbled. ‘I’m sorry for…’ 

‘No, you don’t have to be,’ Mason interrupted him, smiling softly at the thought of Liam apologizing for everything. ‘We’ll all be there, at school tomorrow too. You don’t have to face it alone.’ 

Liam nodded thankfully, knowing who Mason was talking about even before he said it. ‘I know it’s hard, but in time it’ll get easier. It will stop hurting and you’ll forget about it, and we’re all there. You don’t have to face that asshole alone.’ 

Liam let out a soft breath at that, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on top of them as he looked over at Mason. ‘No, please don’t call him that,’ he said softly, looking up at Mason with pleading eyes, as he wasn’t ready to hear bad things about Theo yet despite what’d happened. He’d seen plenty of Theo to know that he wasn’t. 

That wasn’t what’d happened, Theo had just been as nervous as himself, even though that didn’t take away the hurt that Liam still felt when he thought about the fact that he’d been the reason why Theo was nervous. ‘And… What if I don’t want that?’ he asked then. ‘What if I don’t want to forget?’ 

Mason looked up in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked softly, watching with a sting in his chest as fresh tears gathered in Liam’s eyes. 

‘Come on,’ he offered then, opening his arms and pulling Liam closer again. Liam leaned against him as new sobs filled the room, making Mason’s shirt a little wet, though he didn’t mind. 

‘I think I’m…’ Liam started, his voice muffled because of where his face was pressed against Mason’s shoulder. ‘I think I’m in love with him.’ 

Mason stayed silent at that, his arms staying securely wrapped around Liam’s shoulders. With held breath and a racing heart Liam waited for him to say something, anything, and leaned back slowly when nothing came. With wet eyes and red cheeks he looked at Mason, waiting, nervously. He knew how Mason felt about it, knew that Mason just thought Theo was an asshole for hurting him, but it wasn’t that simple for him. 

They had both been nervous, both caring about the rest of Theo’s group and what they would say. Just in different ways. 

Liam thought back on when he told Theo that he should let him know when something had changed on his side, and deep down Liam knew that he just wanted Theo to try. He wanted him to try harder, to show that something had changed, and then maybe if he did well enough, Liam could give him another chance. Then, and only then, because he didn’t want to set himself up for heartbreak again. That was the absolute last thing he wanted. So he vowed, still, to be careful. 

‘I understand that,’ Mason said then. ‘I really do,’ and Liam let out a relieved breath. ‘But either way, it’s gonna get better, and whatever happens, you’re not alone,’ he said, referring to either Liam forgetting about Theo and moving on, or getting together with him. Liam nodded appreciatively, though he knew that the first wasn’t really an option. 

Theo was his soulmate, his perfect match, and Liam had seen a glimpse of why that was. But it was on Theo to make a move now, and even though that scared Liam to death as he didn’t even know if Theo would, there wasn’t much else he could do now. 

Relief washed over him upon hearing Mason’s reassuring words though, and he turned to his friend with a small smile on his face. ‘Thanks,’ he said, well-meant. ‘You’re the best.’ 

Mason smiled softly at that. ‘Well, I meant it. You don’t have to face it alone tomorrow. And I’m sure Corey will be there too, and maybe Kira and Lori will as well.’ 

Liam nodded, wiping his eyes. His heart hurt, the knowledge that Theo didn’t want to be seen with him at school stinging in his chest, and he could admit at least to himself that he was still terrified to go to school tomorrow and see Theo there. But he had Mason, and Corey and maybe the girls too, and the thought of all those people being there for him made it slightly more bearable, as if maybe, just maybe, he could survive it. 

After taking a few deep breaths and Mason comforting him that it was gonna be alright, he sniffled and wiped his eyes, looking up. 

‘Do you wanna stay here?’ he asked Mason with a slightly hoarse voice. ‘I don’t… Really want to be alone. We can play video games?’ 

Mason nodded, reassuring him, and Liam let out a breath of relief, taking a weight off his shoulders. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘Sounds like a great plan.’ 

Liam sighed out of relief that Mason agreed to stay with him, but when he got up to start up the game, his small smile faded from his face again. He didn’t feel like anything much, a bit empty, or feel like doing anything much. 

But he didn’t have the heart to tell Mason about the painful feeling in his chest, how it still hurt like nothing else, or the way he still felt tears stinging in his eyes constantly, and when he sat down on the bed next to Mason again, he didn’t try to smile again. Mason didn’t ask, because he knew, and they just played. With every round Liam could feel the heavy feeling, the weight on his shoulders, slowly vanishing, as it was a nice distraction. As if he forgot about his troubles for only just a while. 

And when his mom eventually brought them two cups of tea, he was able to chuckle softly every time Mason cracked a joke. Everything still hurt, and he was still terrified to go back to school, but right there, in his room in his safe little bubble with Mason, everything felt a little more alright for just a short while. And that was all he could do about it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More angst for Theo this time, but it'll get better ;) Enjoy!

Theo had been feeling restless all day long. When he’d gone to school in the morning he’d been determined to make things right with Liam that same day, but that had proven quite difficult when Liam had avoided him all day long and turned around every time he saw Theo standing at the end of a corridor.

It had only made Theo feel more shitty. 

He’d also seen the pained, lifeless look in Liam’s eyes, the way they didn’t sparkle anymore, and Theo desperately wanted to bring that back. He didn’t think that the fact that Liam was like that because of him, could hurt so much. He could still hear Liam’s voice ringing in his ears when he accused Theo of being ashamed of him, making him feel nauseated. Was he? Theo didn’t know. He knew that it wasn’t as simple as that. But he also knew that he had certainly given that impression, it had looked like that to Liam, and he could hundred percent understand why Liam would say that. He couldn’t stop wondering when his ego, his image in high school, had gotten in the way so much that it resulted in him losing something that was far more important. 

During the day, when it became clear that there was no way he’d get a chance to talk to Liam, his mood had gradually grown more sour and even Corey, who’d been less angry at him and tried to comfort him, couldn’t help him. He still had no plan, no idea of what to do about this. 

That was how he drove home after school, annoyed and upset, missing Liam, and when he parked the car in front of his house and slammed the door shut, he wasn’t feeling any better. With a frown on his face, certain that the anger was still clear to see on his face, he stepped into the kitchen and let the door fall shut behind him. 

Tara, who was sitting at the kitchen island with a cup of tea and her homework, looked up startled, but grinned as she saw it was him. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Oh, someone’s in a bad mood.’ 

‘Shut up,’ Theo muttered, not feeling like dealing with Tara’s teasing at the moment, and dropped his bag in a corner of the room before he sat down across from her. 

‘Mom doesn’t like that, you know that,’ Tara said, nodding at Theo’s bag, before putting her pen down and looking up from her homework. ‘You know, rumour has it, that you’ve found your soulmate.’ 

Theo’s head shot up at that. ‘What!? Where did you hear that?’ 

Tara chuckled. ‘Relax, it’s fine. One of my friends saw you spending more time with that Dunbar kid. I’m happy for you.’ 

For a moment, Theo anxiously wondered if that meant anyone else had seen them, and who, before he remembered that that was exactly how he’d gotten himself into this mess in the first place, and now had to fix. It didn’t matter anymore. And that left him feeling pretty hopeless about being able to make it right. 

‘What’s this I hear?’ he heard his mom’s voice behind him then, making him jump a little. Startled, he looked over his shoulder to where she came into the kitchen, with a few sheets of paper in her hands. ‘Have you found your soulmate?’ 

Theo eyed the paper in her hands warily, but looked up at her then and nodded slowly, the annoyed feeling that he’d had all day slowly coming back to him. ‘Eh, yeah,’ he started slowly, unsure, clearing his throat and clenching his fists under the table to not snap at his mother out of the annoyance he felt. He’d messed up, again, and everybody being nosy definitely didn’t help to make him feel any better. ‘His name’s Liam,’ he said, unable to ignore the sting in his chest that came with saying his name now, or thinking about him. ‘He’s in a few of my classes.’ 

‘Oh, that’s nice,’ his mom replied, not commenting on how it was a ‘he’ when Theo was sure she had always expected it to be a ‘she.’ 

He let out a relieved breath; he guessed his dad was right about people being more accepting. ‘Why don’t you invite him over for dinner this week?’ she asked then. ‘Then we can meet him?’ 

Theo sighed softly, dropping his gaze to the table in front of him. ‘He is nice,’ he mumbled, a sting in his chest as he thought of exactly how nice and amazing Liam was. He couldn’t deny that dinner with all of them together would be nice, but he knew it was gonna have to wait for a bit. 

He didn’t see any reason why Liam should even want him anymore. Not after he remembered all the ways he’d messed up again so great, and brought back the sad feeling and the bad mood he’d been in all day. ‘I’ll think about it,’ he mumbled, looking up, to not make his mom and Tara think that something was wrong. Judging by the looks on their faces, he wasn’t sure if he’d succeeded, but in that moment he didn’t really care to. 

‘Okay,’ his mom said, deciding to not comment on it any further, much to Theo’s relief. ‘Well, I was cleaning your room earlier, and then I found these.’ 

She spread the sheets of paper she’d been carrying earlier out on the kitchen island, and Theo froze. Those were his drawings… He should’ve listened to the bad feeling he got when he saw his mom with them when she walked in… 

‘Where… Where did you find those?’ he asked weakly, anxiously, his heart racing in his chest at the thought of his family having found out about his best kept secret. 

‘In your drawers!’ his mom replied cheerfully, not noticing his anxious mood. ‘They’re so nice, I can’t believe you hid all of these from us all the time!’ 

‘Damn!’ Tara commented impressed, putting down her cup of tea. ‘Those are really good, Theo!’ She said as she looked up at him with wide eyes, pleasantly surprised. ‘Why wouldn’t you show those to us?’ 

‘Eh…’ Theo stayed silent for a moment, anxiously trying to find the right words. He felt a bit nauseous, but staying silent about it wouldn’t do him any good anymore, he knew. ‘Well, art’s my favorite subject in school…’ 

He started anxiously. ‘And I think I wanna do something with it later, so I… I tried a few things…’ 

He swallowed, as he still wasn’t sure about telling his family that he’d secretly been dreaming of a career in art when his dad had been planning his whole future for him, even though he’d just done it. That thought definitely didn’t make telling them any easier. He was worried he shouldn’t have, there was a reason he’d kept it from them all this time, it was kinda known in their family what path Theo would follow, and that was how his dad had introduced him at the work parties Theo had told Liam about. Though he couldn’t take it back now. And somehow the way his mom and Tara nodded and seemed to want to hear more about it didn’t help to make him feel any better. ‘So…’ he continued with a dry mouth, just as the door opened again and his father walked in. 

‘Theo, I’ve been looking at some colleges, like which ones would be the best options to prepare you for a job at my company, and…’ His dad fell silent for a moment then. ‘What are those?’ he asked then, taking a curious look at the drawings. 

‘Theo made these, dad, they’re awesome,’ Tara smiled, pushing on of the drawings over the top of the kitchen island to her dad. ‘Take a look.’ 

Theo swallowed as Tara showed them to their father, feeling helpless and unable to put a stop to it as his dad took a look at them. 

‘Yeah, apparently,’ his mom started then, and Theo’s head shot up at her as he knew what was about to come. ‘Theo wants to do something more with it after high school.’ 

His dad looked up at that, and Theo could feel his anger bubbling up in his stomach again, clenching his fists as he felt like his whole life was turned upside down all of a sudden, like everything was about to crash and burn around him, his life falling apart in front of him. 

Why couldn’t his family behave normally and stay out of his fucking business for once, he thought with a clenched jaw, the annoyance he’d been feeling all day returning tenfold. Why was all of this happening now, all at once? It wasn’t like there hadn’t been enough happening already, and they decided to push him a little further still. 

‘Art?’ his father asked, looking up with raised eyebrow that looked only disapproving. 

Theo shivered, holding his head up high and hoping that he looked more confident than he felt. ‘Yeah…’ he started. He knew his father wouldn’t approve of this, exactly like he’d told Liam. That was why he kept it a secret all this time, he never intended for his family to find out like this. ‘Art is… Art is my favorite subject in school.’ 

‘Art?’ his father asked again then, and Theo felt unsure, a bit annoyed at him. ‘But son, I thought we’d agreed that you’d go to college and follow me to my company after that. Not this.’ 

Then, Theo couldn’t stop the wave of anger from washing over anymore, after the rough day he’d had, and remembering what Liam had told him when he came over: ‘It’s your life, your future. You should do what makes you happy.’ If Liam believed he could do it, then why not? Why shouldn’t he follow the boy’s advice? 

‘No, dad!’ he snapped, before he could stop himself. ‘You planned that! You agreed to that! I didn’t!’ 

His dad remained silent at that, startled, and looked at Theo, looking taken aback as his mom and Tara followed the exchange with wide eyes. 

‘I want to do this!’ Theo continued loudly, angrily, a little out of breath as he nodded towards his drawings on the kitchen island. ‘And I think I could be good at it!’ 

Liam did too, and that made Theo feel terribly relieved. He couldn’t deny that his conversation with Liam was the little push that he’d needed for this. 

‘So if you don’t mind…’ Theo said then, sliding off of his stool and gathering his drawings in his arms. ‘I’m gonna look for a college where I can take art.’ 

With that, he walked to the door and out of the kitchen, ignoring his dad calling after him: ‘Theo! We talked about this!’ Though he couldn’t help but smile proudly a little, despite his anger, when he heard Tara giggling in the kitchen in admiration for him. Then he stomped up the stairs, his footsteps loud, to his bedroom and threw the door open. He let out a breath of relief. 

That was already one thing he’d done that he was so scared to do, one thing that he’d put off for so long. Now he could do the next thing, he thought, as new determination coursed through him. Now he was gonna think of something, to try and make things right, and he was gonna get Liam back. With a feeling more relieved than ever and a deep breath, he fell down on his bed. He was gonna do it. He was gonna get Liam back. 

***** 

He wasn’t gonna get Liam back. All day long, Theo had been trying to talk to him, only to be met with silence all over again. It had left him feeling pretty hopeless, to the point where he’d given up and was now lying in bed in a mess of blankets and pillows up, curled up with only his eyes peeking out from under the blanket. 

He didn’t know what to do anymore. His eyes burned from recently shed tears. 

Mason hadn’t been happy with him today either, shooting him angry glares and leading Liam away from him every time they saw each other in the hallway. Corey had been nice with him again, mostly, but Theo could see that he was still more on Liam’s side. He couldn’t blame him. 

His mom saw something was up when he came home, but she noticed that he didn’t want to talk about it, so other than the short story he’d told her, she didn’t press and ask more questions. Theo was grateful. 

Still, that didn’t stop the whirlwind that was his friend Brett from coming over and visiting him, as Theo listened to two pairs of loud footsteps coming up the stairs. 

His mom opened the door. ‘There’s someone here to see you.’ 

Brett stepped past his mom into the bedroom, and Theo looked at him from where he was lying in bed with everything but his eyes covered under the blanket. Brett let out an amused chuckle. 

‘Jesus,’ he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. ‘It’s good that I’m here, I see. Someone’s obviously in trouble.’ 

Theo stayed silent for a moment and looked towards his mom, pleading. She nodded and closed the door behind her, before he looked back to Brett. 

‘What are you doing here?’ he mumbled, not bothering to come out from under the blanket and making it hard for Brett to understand him. He sighed. 

‘You’ve been pretty down in the dumps all day today,’ he said. ‘And yesterday too, when I think about it. So I thought I’d be the decent friend and stop by, to see what’s going on. And how you’re doing.’ 

Theo remained silent and Brett gave him an amused look, a small smile on his face, and let out a soft sigh. ‘Though this is… This is information enough,’ he chuckled. 

Theo, who felt shocked and more than a little bit pleasantly surprised with Brett’s presence, moved around a bit until his whole face was visible, and Brett could understand him a little better. He looked up at his friend. ‘I have to tell you something,’ he said, seriously. 

Brett nodded, but when he realized that Theo was really serious, the smile faded from his face. ‘Yeah, sure,’ he said, sitting a bit closer. ‘Of course, what is it?’ 

Theo’s heart hammered in his chest as he moved to sit up a little more and looked at Brett. He didn’t think he could be so nervous about this, but he was. Still, this was important, and he had to do it now. 

‘I found my soulmate,’ he said in one breath, before he could get out of the situation again. 

He saw the way the look on Brett’s face changed, from a little concerned, to surprised, to cheerful and happy for him. Theo swallowed. He thought it was safe to say that that was about to change in a minute. 

‘Really?’ Brett asked excitedly. ‘Where? Who is it? Do I know them?’ 

Theo dropped his gaze, looking down at his lap where his hands were fumbling with the blanket. ‘Yeah,’ he said quietly, letting out a breath. ‘Yeah, you know them.’ 

Brett stayed silent, instead raising his eyebrows and waiting for Theo to continue and elaborate. Theo sighed, looking up again. ‘Brett, it’s Liam,’ he said hurriedly before he could back out again, ripping off the band aid quickly and all at once. 

Brett remained silent at that, not saying anything, and his face was blank. Unreadable. Theo couldn’t deny that it made him feel on edge that he couldn’t make out what his friend was thinking, as he waited for him to say something. It wasn’t what Theo expected, when he would rather know what Brett thought of it, but he nodded. ‘And what do you think?’ he asked then. 

Brett let out a soft sigh, looking up. ‘Well,’ he said honestly, and Theo waited with his breath held in. 

‘I’ll have to get used to it. But it’s not like I don’t understand you can’t choose your soulmate.’ 

Theo nodded, and Brett continued. ‘But it’s Liam Dunbar,’ he said hesitantly, just like Theo thought he would. ‘Are you happy?’ 

Theo let out a soft breath at that, looking over at Brett with his hands fumbling in his lap. ‘Brett, you don’t know him,’ he said quietly, relieved that Brett was actually listening for once. ‘He’s amazing.’ 

Brett stayed silent, nodding when he believed Theo. ‘Well, like I said,’ he said. ‘I’ll still have to get used to it, but I suppose he’s your soulmate for a reason.’ 

Theo let out a chuckle at that, already feeling more at ease, and Brett looked over at him curiously. ‘He’s also the one you’ve been texting in class, isn’t he? Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I thought we were friends!’ 

He was being serious, Theo knew, even if he’d made it sound like a joke, and he chuckled nervously. ‘Because…’ he shrugged. ‘I was scared of how you’d react. I know what you think of Liam.’ 

‘Dude,’ Brett started. ‘Need I remind you that I’ve found my soulmate already?’ He turned serious, the slight smile fading from his face. ‘I love Josh,’ he said, sincerely. ‘I really do. If you tell him I went so soft for him, I swear…’ he joked, before turning serious again. ‘Point is, if you feel about Liam the way I do about Josh, then I know what that’s like. Okay? I know what that feels like, and how special that is, to find your soulmate and have that person you can talk to about everything in your life. I know how I feel about Josh and if you feel the same about Liam, then that’s special. I can’t complain.’ 

Theo stayed silent at that, shocked at Brett’s response which was so not what he thought it would be, and staring at him with his jaw dropped. Had he just completely misread the situation? Did he actually have the wrong idea about one of his best friends? If he’d known Brett would react like this and wouldn’t laugh at him for who his soulmate was, then he’d have told him earlier. Then nothing of this would’ve ever happened. 

Still, he knew it wouldn’t be fair to blame Brett for what happened with Liam. That was only his own stupid fault. 

‘Well,’ he said, once the shock had faded a bit and he had found his voice again. ‘It’s not like it matters anymore. I fucked things up, with Liam. I fucked up big time.’ He swallowed at the thought. 

Brett frowned, clearly not liking the sound of that. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked in confusion, not understanding Theo. ‘What did you do?’ 

‘Uhm…’ Theo swallowed, looking down at his lap to avoid Brett’s gaze as he told him the story of how he had hidden the fact that Liam was his soulmate from everyone, not talking to him at school and avoiding him so no one would find out, and how he was afraid of Brett’s reaction. He’d told Brett of his fight with Liam, and how the boy had accused him of “being ashamed of him.' 

Brett stayed silent during his explanation, listening closely and nodding to show that he got it, that he understood, and when Theo was done, he looked up with wide eyes. A look on his face that meant that he couldn’t believe how stupid Theo was. 

‘Dude, I can’t believe this,’ he said. ‘Again, I thought I’d told you that we were friends! Was it really so important to you what I’d think?’ 

Theo swallowed, staying silent for a moment. ‘Yeah,’ he said quietly then. ‘You said you’d have to get used to it.’ 

Brett remained silent for a second. ‘Yeah,’ he admitted then. ‘But, what kind of friend do you think I’d be if I couldn’t do that? What kind of friend do you think I am? We are friends, aren’t we?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Theo nodded quietly, a bit ashamed of the way he had handled things now. 

‘Okay,’ Brett said with a smile. ‘So believe me when I say that, I’m sorry that I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me things. I know I can be a bit like that sometimes, but I never meant that.’ 

‘I’m sorry too,’ Theo responded softly. ‘For not trusting you and telling you sooner.’ 

Brett grinned, nodding. ‘So what do you want to do then?’ he asked then, skipping the emotional part for now as it wasn’t really his favorite thing in the world. ‘You messed up, you admitted that and that’s great, but we’re gonna get your boy back?’ 

Theo looked up, unable to hide his surprise. ‘You’re gonna help me?’ he asked, slowly realizing just how wrong he’d been about the entire situation, and about Brett, making him feel a little ashamed because there was no reason to fuck things up with Liam. But he also felt a bit more hopeful since the first time it happened, because now he had help from someone to think of a good plan. He couldn’t keep the smile of his face at that thought. ‘Yeah, of course, I can do a bit of matchmaking,’ Brett laughed, bragging about it a bit. ‘So I was thinking that, maybe, listen to this…’ 

Theo did, nodding along as Brett explained to him what he had in mind. The relief that Brett accepted it, or was at least going to try, grew with the second, and Theo’s smile grew gradually as he listened to Brett’s plan. It was a good plan, he knew, as that was Brett’s strong suit. And he was happy with it, sure that it was going to work. It was going to work, it had to. And when it did, he could finally have a real chance with Liam.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final part!! I felt inspired and wrote a happy ending :) I hope you'll like it!

‘They’re here,’ Lydia said, looking through the window in the door from the school before walking back to the rest of the group.

Theo took a deep, nervous breath, holding the little wrapped package in his hands tight to his chest and watched through the window as Liam walked up to the doors with Mason and Corey behind him, his gaze directed at the ground. His hands shook a little, but after resolving things with his family and his friends, he was ready for the last step.

Then, Corey opened the door and held it open for Mason and Liam, and Theo watched with growing nervousness as Liam shuffled inside, with his gaze turned at the ground.

Only then did he look up, and all three of them seemed startled at the sight of Theo’s whole group being there. Liam’s eyes went wide in shock, when he saw who were all there looking at him. His gaze turned back at the floor then while Corey crossed his arms and Mason stayed behind, rubbing Liam’s arms to try and comfort him.

Theo swallowed at the sight. He knew he’d hurt Liam, but was it really to the point where the other boy didn’t even want to look at him?

‘Theo?’ Corey asked then, still with crossed arms. ‘What’s going on here?’

‘I, uh…’ he started, though he trailed off when Liam caught his attention as he tried to walk past him to disappear into the corridor with the lockers, Mason following after protectively.

‘No, wait a moment,’ Theo tried desperately, to try and make Liam stop. If he could just make him listen, make sure Liam would hear him out…

Liam froze and Theo let out a soft breath, thinking that maybe he would listen to him after all, but then Mason turned around and shot Theo a glare. ‘No, no, no,’ he said angrily. ‘We’re not doing this, Theo. You’ve done enough.’

The words hit Theo hard, stung in his chest, and he swallowed. He looked towards Corey, who was still standing in front of the rest of the group with his arms crossed, but the look on his face had softened a bit, like he was debating something. Theo knew that look, knew that it meant that Corey saw something in the situation, something good and thought that maybe it could be fixed, if Theo came with something good. Something really good.

Theo swallowed nervously, letting out a soft breath. He would make damn sure it was good.

‘Liam!’ he called, his hands still shaking a little where he was holding the small, wrapped package against his chest. ‘Wait a minute!’

Liam froze mid-step, and Theo quickly thought of the words to say next.

‘Liam, I… I just need you to hear me out, okay?’ he asked, unable to stop himself from sounding desperate. ‘I don’t need anything else right now, I promise.’

It wasn’t true, he knew, he had made the plan to make things alright with Liam, to get him back, and he wouldn’t walk away from this before he had.

Slowly, Liam turned around, staring at him with scared eyes that were a little wet from the tears, and Theo swallowed. ‘I know… I know we’ve done things this way before,’ he started, nervously. ‘But I need you to hear this, and I need to know that I’ve said it. Okay?’ he repeated nervously. ‘Because I know I did it again. I fucked up again, because…’

He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his courage, before opening them again. ‘Because I’m an asshole. And a coward. And I don’t deserve you,’ Theo whispered, with a shaky voice, his own tears already stinging in his eyes. ‘But you deserve an explanation.’

He took a deep breath. ‘I was scared. You were right. I was nervous about what everyone would think,’ he looked over his shoulder to where the rest of his friend group was standing. Liam looked down, avoiding their eyes and nervous about having to do this in front of all of them.

‘I was stupid,’ Theo continued. ‘As no one here will deny, probably. But you deserve better than that. I want to give that to you, every day, for a long time, and I know that to be more true than anything else right now. I wanted you to know too. I wanted you to know that it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with you, or who you are, and everything with me, and who I am. But I want to try this with you, I do, and you’re the reason why I want to try and want to do things differently now. That’s what I want, and it’s the truth. I swear. So if you’ll let me… Because that’s the only reason I can give you, the only explanation. I’m so sorry.’

He took a deep, shaky breath, closing his eyes for a moment before looking at Liam again. ‘But I understand if you don’t want…’

Liam was really crying now, silent tears flowing down his cheeks. Theo could feel a tear slipping from his eyes as well, and his hands were trembling, badly, with the package against his chest.

‘T-Theo…’ Liam started then, his voice nervous and shaky, ignoring the rest of all the people. ‘Theo, I can’t…’ he said quietly, and that’s when Theo knew what it felt like to have someone break your heart. He’d told Liam everything he felt, and it still wasn’t enough. ‘You… You hurt me already,’ Liam whimpered, looking at him. ‘And… I told you why…’

Theo nodded shortly, biting his lip, his tears stinging in his eyes and blurring his vision. ‘Okay,’ he said with a hoarse voice. ‘I get it. Just… I want you to have this, okay?’

He held out the package to Liam and Liam looked at him, eyeing the package warily before taking it from hesitantly.

Theo watched as he ripped off the paper slowly, his heart hammering in his chest, and then Liam looked up, his jaw dropped. ‘The book from the bookstore from the mall that I saw…’ he said in shock. ‘You got it for me?’

Theo nodded. ‘It’s the absolute last thing I could do,’ he said, still feeling ashamed of his actions. ‘After…’

Liam nodded hesitantly, biting his lip a little unsure. ‘Yeah…’ he mumbled, before starting to turn around. ‘Thanks…’

Theo panicked, he didn’t want Liam to go. His mind raced, thinking of all the things he could still say to keep him around. ‘I meant what I said though!’ he called after him. ‘I want to try this with you, you’re the reason why, because I’m…’ He couldn’t hold it back anymore, he had to say it if he wanted to know for sure that he’d truly said everything. ‘I’m in love with you.’

Liam froze, Theo could see the effect of his words in him and everyone around them, and his mouth felt dry. He had never felt this vulnerable, this exposed, before, and it was definitely something he had to get used to. Liam turned around then, staring at Theo with a frown. ‘What?’ he asked, shocked, even though his tone gave away the fact that he had very well heard Theo.

And that was when the rest of the group started to move too, and started to interfere in the situation as well.

‘Look,’ Brett started, walking up to Liam and coming to stand a few feet in front of him. ‘Before you go, Liam, is it alright if I call you Liam? Before you go I just want you to know that my buddy Theo here…’ he pointed to Theo. ‘Is an idiot. A big idiot, clearly, but an idiot who’s in love with you.’

Liam seemed startled, stunned, at Brett talking to him like a civil person for the first time, and he glanced quickly at Theo before looking back to him. Theo’s heart was racing in his chest, as he looked from Brett to Liam and what Brett was doing.

‘I just want to apologize, for me and for him,’ Brett said then, holding out his hand to Liam. ‘If it helps for you, I’m sorry. And I know I haven’t really been kind to you in the past and we’ve got our differences, but I’m willing to try if you are.’

Liam was speechless, Theo could tell, as he stared at Brett’s hand. Though he couldn’t blame him, not after everything.

‘Uh…’ Liam started nervously, looking up at him. ‘Yeah, I guess… I guess maybe it’s alright…’

Brett nodded, only taking a step back again after he’d told Liam: ‘I just want Theo to be happy, you know?’

Theo flushed at that, but he knew it was true, and he appreciated Brett being a good friend for him.

Lydia stepped forward, letting out a soft sigh, with Malia, Kira and Lori behind her. ‘Okay, so now that these two idiots got their messes out of the way,’ she smiled at Liam. ‘I just wanted to say that Theo asked us to come with him to tell you that what he said is true, and what a big _idiot_ he is.’ She shot a quick glare in Theo’s direction.

‘But you two have known for longer, right?’ she looked over her shoulder at Kira and Lori. ‘And tried to tell you that it was okay.’

Lori nodded, giving Liam a smile.

‘Okay,’ Lydia sighed then, looking over at Liam. ‘We agreed to help Theo because he’s our friend. But I honestly think that you two need to finish this conversation alone. Without any of us there.’

Kira and Lori nodded in agreement, even Malia gave a short nod, and Brett, Josh and even Corey seemed to agree as well. Liam looked across the group, at the small, proud-looking smile that Corey sent his friend, before he looked back to Theo.

Theo had an unsure, insecure but hopeful look in his eyes, and Liam felt a little less like he wanted to cry when he looked at him. He nodded bravely, letting out a shaky breath. ‘Yeah,’ he forced himself to say. ‘Okay.’

Theo let out a relieved breath, and Liam turned around, most likely to walk them to an empty classroom where they could talk in private. Theo followed after him, his heart beating fast in his chest as he knew how lucky he was to even get this chance, but he couldn’t help but smile when he heard Josh whistle behind him.

Liam opened the door then, and let Theo walk inside he first. He took a seat at the table in the middle at the front, and waited for Liam to sit down next to him.

When he had, he looked over at Theo nervously and asked quietly: ‘Is it true? Did you really ask all friends to help you today?’

Theo looked down, fumbling with the hem of his shirt. ‘Yeah…’ he mumbled. ‘It was Brett’s idea.’ He looked up, catching Liam’s gaze. ‘He came over the other day, and I told him. I know you two haven’t had nice conversations in the past, but he is really willing to try, and that means a lot,’ he told Liam honestly.

Liam stayed silent, nodding understandingly.

‘Liam, I’m sorry,’ Theo said then. ‘I’m sorry for all I’ve put you through. I know I’ve hurt you, in a way that you’ve told me about, and I’m sorry. And I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that there in front of everyone, but…’

_‘I needed the support,’_ he wanted to say, but Liam interrupted him, holding up his hand. ‘Don’t,’ he said, before Theo could continue and he wouldn’t get a chance anymore.

‘I just want to know one thing.’

‘Yeah,’ Theo nodded, looking over at Liam with a patient look in his eyes. ‘Yeah, of course, ask anything.’

Liam bit his lip, looking a little shy. ‘Did you… Did you really mean everything you said?’

Theo took in a breath, thinking back on everything he’d said in the hallway. On how he wanted to do this with Liam, every single day again, how Liam was the reason he wanted to try and how it wasn’t his fault, and how that was the complete truth.

‘Yeah,’ he said, feeling more vulnerable now than ever. ‘Yeah, everything. I meant all of it.’

‘Even…’ Liam started, his eyes glistening with small tears though Theo recognized the hopeful look in them, and Liam didn’t have to finish his sentence for Theo to know what he meant.

He thought back on how he told Liam that he was in love with him.

‘Yeah,’ he said, unable to stop a small, hopeful smile forming on his face and leaning forward a little bit. ‘That the most of all,’ and he couldn’t remember a time when his voice had come out so sincere. When he had meant anything so much, as he meant that.

The corner of Liam’s mouth pulled up just slightly then and a tear rolled down his cheek. He looked down, wiping it away with the sleeve of his hoodie, before he let out a soft sob and a chuckle at the same time. ‘I can’t believe you bought me this book I wanted from the bookstore,’ he sniffled. 'Thank you.'

Theo leaned forward, a serious look on his face, and he placed his hands on Liam’s knees. ‘I want you to be happy, Li. Even… Even when you don’t think you can be happy with me.’

Liam sniffled, wiping his nose and looking up at Theo. ‘What if… What if I do think that?’ he asked, shyly, and Theo felt like his heart was hammering in his chest. His head snapped up.

‘Wait… Seriously?’ he asked, feeling like he was dreaming, like this was all too good to be true. ‘Do you mean it?’

‘Yeah,’ Liam nodded, smiling slightly and with happy tears in his eyes. ‘Yeah, I mean it. We’re soulmates, aren’t we? We’re a perfect match. About what you said… I’m… I’m in love with you too. And there is no one else I could be happier with.’

Theo smiled softly at that, his heart beating faster at Liam’s honest words, and he looked over at Liam to check if it was okay and closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against Liam’s.

He couldn’t believe his luck, and how good it felt to be able to do that again.

They both cried slightly in their kiss, happy tears dripping down both of their cheeks, and when they pulled back, Theo reached out to softly wipe one of Liam’s cheek, brushing over his cheek with his thumb softly. Liam leaned into his touch, letting out a soft sigh.

‘Are you okay?’ Theo asked unsure then. ‘Are we okay?’

Liam bit his lip, staying silent for a moment, but then he smiled and Theo watched in awe as it lit up his face. ‘Yeah,’ he said, nodding. ‘Yeah, I think we are.’ He paused, looking over at him. ‘And you? Are you okay?’

‘Never better,’ Theo said, a bright smile forming on his face. He let out a soft sob and a chuckle at the same time. ‘I think I’m possibly the luckiest guy alive right now.’

Liam beamed at that, and he couldn’t hold it back. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the corner of Theo’s mouth and reached out, squeezing his hand. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘For not giving up on wanting to talk to me, when I pushed you away, for not giving up on trying to fix us. It’s what I still hoped you’d do.’

Theo’s heart sped up at that, because if he’d known that… Softly, he squeezed Liam’s hand back in return. ‘I would do it all again for you,’ he said sincerely, well-meant, as he knew that that was the truest thing in the world. He could already feel a part that’d been missing from his life, slowly settling in again, like it belonged there and it always had and always would. A part of their soulmate bond, and he felt already more complete again now.

‘Come on,’ he said then, looking over at Liam with a smile. ‘The other’s are probably wondering where we are.’

‘Yeah,’ Liam nodded, chuckling softly. ‘Probably.’

They got up, grabbing their bags from the table before they walked to the door. Theo reached for Liam’s hand carefully, smiling at him and watching Liam smile at him in return, a calm feeling settling in his chest at the sight.

He was so lucky to be here, and to have this again. To have Liam be with him again. Liam felt Theo’s hand in his, lacing their fingers together, and his heartbeat sped up. Theo had said that he was the luckiest guy alive, and even if that made Liam feel warm all over, he couldn’t help but think that Theo was somehow wrong.

Because how could Theo be that, when he was already the luckiest guy alive?

With that thought, he followed Theo out into the corridor, a smile on his face, and the feeling that everything belonged and felt right again, washed over him, a calming feeling settling in his chest. Everything was alright, and he felt more happy again than he had in a while.

***** 

Admittedly, it had been a little hard to adjust and fit Liam and Mason in their friendship group, at first at least. They all had to get used to it, Brett and Liam the most of all, and their interactions were scarce and a little cold at first. Brett couldn’t help but still feel a little uncomfortable at their presence, though Theo could see that he was really trying. Over time, they became friendlier with each other, sometimes making a joke or two together, though it was clear that they would never be really good friends.

With the others, though, Liam got along better. Lydia was always quick to involve him in conversations, asking for his opinion, and over time, Liam got more comfortable with giving those. Lori and Kira he’d known a little longer already, he got along with them pretty amazingly and they too, always made sure that he didn’t feel left out. Lori even played for mediator between her brother and Liam sometimes, and even though she sometimes looked frustrated that they didn’t get closer, she learned to accept that. In the end, she was a real friend for Liam.

Theo could see Liam growing a little over time, becoming less shy and showing himself a little more.

Out of everyone in the group though, Liam still got along the best with Mason, Corey and Theo, and they were the people he hung out with the most. Felt the most comfortable with. He didn’t need many friends, just a few that he could share everything with and were there for him in the hard times.

Theo saw that too, but he was happy to keep having his lunches at school with Liam in the cafeteria, no matter who thought it was strange that Liam was sitting at the ‘popular table.’ Theo didn’t even want that to exist anymore. He just wanted to have lunch with his boyfriend, his soulmate, and for everyone to sit where they wanted to sit during lunch break. He was happy, and life was certainly a lot less exhausting that way. 

***** 

‘Come on, you can do it. I’ve got you.’

Theo had gripped Liam’s hands securely, who giggled nervously as he tried to get up on the roof. ‘You did it last time,’ he said, chuckling when Liam responded: ‘I’m not an acrobat.’

Eventually though, Liam managed to get up on the roof when Theo pulled him up, and they settled next to each other to look at the abandoned, moonlit street before them on the little blanket that Theo had thrown on the roof first.

Liam rested against Theo’s side, smiling softly as the older boy wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

‘It’s just as nice here as last time,’ he said, resting his head on Theo’s shoulder and feeling the cool breeze through his hair.

Theo smiled down at him, brushing his thumb over Liam’s skin softly. ‘It is,’ he said quietly.

Liam looked up at him with wide eyes, a warm feeling in Theo’s chest, before he spoke up again seriously and said: ‘You know, I spoke to my dad.’

Immediately, Liam sat up again and looked over at him curiously, a serious look in his eyes. ‘Really? About…’

‘About college, yeah,’ Theo nodded, thinking back on the conversation he’d also had. He and his dad had sat down, and he’d explained all their different interests to him, all the different plans he had for the future and things he wanted to do, and his big interest in art. His dad had seemed taken aback with it first, having to get used to the fact that his son wasn’t going to do what he had planned for him, and even though he acted a little cold at first, acceptance had settled in between them slowly. His father had agreed to let Theo go to a college he wanted, to get any job that he wanted, and Theo felt incredibly relieved at that, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

With a soft smile, he looked down to where Liam was resting against him. ‘Yeah. It was because of you, you know?’

‘Me?’ Liam asked with in surprise, not having expected that.

‘Yeah, you,’ Theo nodded, with the corner of his mouth pulled up in a slight smile. ‘I thought back on what you’d said when you came here first, about it being my future and what I wanted to do.’ He stayed silent for a moment, thinking about his conversation with Liam about his drawings, when he’d shown them to him, when Liam told him that he should do what he wanted and that it was his life, and his future. That he should do what made him happy.

‘You gave me the push I needed,’ Theo smiled softly, when he thought of how Liam had genuinely liked his drawings and kept one of them. ‘You believe in me.’

‘Of course I do,’ Liam smiled, leaning in to press a kiss at Theo’s cheek. ‘I’m proud of you. I’m just glad that you’re happier now, doing what you want. And you believe in me too.'

Theo nodded, staring ahead at the street again. ‘I do,' he said well-meant, giving Liam a smile. 'I do believe in you. And I'm glad about that too,' he said, referring to him being happier now. 'And I’m sorry, Liam,’ he said then, even though he had said it before, pulling the other boy closer. ‘I won’t ever do anything else to hurt you, I promise you that. I think you’re the one thing that makes me happier than anything else.’

Liam blushed at the words, and he rested his head on Theo’s shoulders again, lacing their fingers between them. ‘Thank you,’ he said softly, a soft, content sigh escaping his lips. ‘You make me happier than anything else too.’

A warm feeling settled in Theo’s chest at that, calm and content, feeling incredibly lucky with how things had turned out in the end, with how he had been able to fix everything, and that he and Liam were here together. He felt more complete with Liam next to him, as a part of their soulmate bond, Theo thought as he looked at the beautiful moonlit street and houses before him. He felt Liam’s head on his shoulder, and rested against him in return as well. Everything was calm tonight, peaceful, and he thought about what Liam had said in the classroom.

There was no one else he could be happier with. It was true for Theo too.

He thought then, as he looked at the street and laced his fingers with Liam’s between, that it was clear for him, and for everyone else to see, that they really were a perfect match. And he, himself, saw it the most of all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe this is over! And that I've finished this! Yeah! Hoped you liked it! :)


End file.
